TUESDAY Vol. XXXVI No. 9986

February 2, 2016Rabia II 23, 1437 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals GULF TIMES

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In brief

QATAR

REGION

ARAB WORLD

INTERNATIONAL

COMMENT

BUSINESS

CLASSIFIED

SPORTS

22, 23

1 – 9, 14 – 16

10 – 13

1 – 12

2 – 5, 24

6

7

8 – 21

INDEX

BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1

Guardiola to succeed Pellegrini at Man City

India eyes stronger ties with Qatar in LNG, defence, infrastructure

QATAR | Diplomacy

Emir receives phone call from Cameron HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani yesterday received a telephone call from British Prime Minister David Cameron, during which they discussed a number of issues related to the fourth international donors conference for Syria, which will be held in London this week. They also discussed the latest international developments and eff orts exerted to end the Syrian crisis. The prime minister expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Emir for the humanitarian support and eff orts made by Qatar in order to alleviate the suff ering of the Syrian people. A high-level delegation will represent Qatar in the conference which will be hosted by London.

SYRIA | Talks

Opposition demandsgoodwill measures The Syrian government must within a few days state its readiness to implement goodwill measures on the ground, an opposition off icial said yesterday, accusing the UN peace envoy of overstepping the mark by declaring the start of peace talks. “The Syrian regime must state directly, frankly and without ambiguity that it is ready to implement (UN) Articles 12 and 13 immediately, and it must not take more than a few days. If not, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) will not take part in any other process,” Monzer Makhous, an off icial from the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, told Al Arabiya news channel. Page 7

PALESTINE | Conference

League supportsFrench initiative The Arab League has confirmed support for the French initiative announced by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius regarding the call for the convening of an international conference to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. In a statement issued yesterday, Arab League secretary-general Dr Nabil Elaraby welcomed and appreciated the French stance calling for holding such a conference.

EUROPE | Migrants

Merkel under pressure on refugee numbers Chancellor Angela Merkel is under increasing pressure to reduce the numbers of migrants reaching Germany and voters are increasingly doubtful that the state can tackle the refugee crisis, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday. Page 14

Offi cial rules out job crisis for Filipino engineers in Qatar By Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

Philippine government offi cials will be working continuously with their Qatari counterparts to

help around 12,000 Filipino engineers and architects qualify for equivalency certifi cates and practise their profes-sion in the country legally.

A senior delegation from the Phil-ippines has held talks with Qatari au-thorities over the last two days over the newly-enforced requirement to offi cially register with Qatar’s Urban Planning and Development Authority (UPDA), which issues equivalency cer-

tifi cates that enable them to practise in the country.

Speaking to reporters at the Philip-pine embassy yesterday, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairper-son Patricia B Licuanan said the dele-gation had “very productive” meetings with UPDA and Ministry of Education and Higher Education offi cials .

“We were able to raise issues, ques-tions were asked but we got some satis-factory answers from our visits; second point, this is a work in progress and it will continue positively,” she stressed.

“As I see it there is no real crisis and people are not about to lose their jobs,” she assured.

A Qatari delegation is expected to

visit the Philippines in June or after working on an “outcomes framework” that will be used as a basis for address-ing the problem.

CHED will also submit an expanded list of universities (more than 500) to the ministry, which Licuanan hopes to be accredited. It is learnt that only 92 are on its current list.

To be able to take the equivalency test, Filipino engineers and architects must have a professional Philippine licence and their college (from where they graduated) must be included on the list approved by the ministry. “These are the two basic requirements,” she noted.

Candidates will be given four

chances to pass the exam. But failure will not mean losing their jobs but their position or title would likely be downgraded.

“That is progress and it is not as frightening as it seems, that is a lot of chances,” Licuanan said.

While there is no intention of laying off or losing Filipino professionals, she noted that the Qatar government was serious in implementing the law on giving professional licences.

More than 50 Filipino engineers and architects who are facing some hurdles in getting the equivalency certifi cates for them to practise their profession le-gally in Qatar met the CHED chairper-son last Sunday.

Qatar requires a 12-year basic edu-cation, or a total of 16 years of educa-tion, for registering professionals such as architects and engineers.

“While there should be a sense of ur-gency for all of us, there are no absolute deadlines. In a sense, they have been quite liberal extending deadlines, and that is quite positive and reassuring,” she added.

Filipino politician and Leyte rep-resentative Martin G Romualdez yes-terday urged the Department of Labor and Employment in the Philippines and other government agencies concerned “to spare no eff ort to keep 12,000 Fili-pino architects and engineers in their jobs in Qatar”.

CHED chairperson Patricia B Licuanan speaking to reporters at the embassy yesterday. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani has received a written message from UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed al-Nahyan. “The message was related to brotherly relations between the two countries and ways to advance them in addition to topics of mutual interests,” the off icial Qatar News Agency (QNA) said. UAE ambassador Saleh bin Mohamed al-Amri delivered the message during a meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday.

PM gets message from UAE interior minister

Ministry acts on car buyers’ complaints The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has stressed that it will crack down on all violations of the Consumer Protection Law

In a fi rst move of its kind, the Min-istry of Economy and Commerce (MEC) has compelled three car

dealers in Doha to replace fi ve defec-tive vehicles with new ones after their service centres failed to repair recur-ring faults.

The ministry took the action after receiving complaints from several ve-hicle owners regarding manufacturing defects. Inspectors from the ministry reviewed and investigated the com-plaints before notifying the distribu-tors of the need to replace faulty cars with new ones in accordance with Ar-ticle 10 of Law No 8 of 2008 on con-sumer protection.

According to the provisions of the law, consumers are entitled to choose whether to repair, return or exchange defective products.

The measures come within the framework of the ministry’s ongoing eff orts to protect consumers and en-sure that car dealers follow up on vehi-cle defects and repairs.

The Ministry of Economy and Com-merce has stressed that it would crack down on all violations of the Consumer Protection Law and would intensify its inspection campaigns to combat fraud.

The ministry added that it would refer violators of applicable laws and ministerial decrees to the competent authorities who will in turn take ap-propriate action against them in a bid to protect consumer rights.

As part of this, customers have been urged to report any violations to the ministry’s Consumer Protection and Anti-Commercial Fraud Department

through the following channels: Hot-line: 16001, E-mail: info@mec.gov.qa, Social media accounts:

Twitter: @MEC_Qatar, Instagram: MEC_Qatar. Ministry of Economy and Commerce mobile app for Android and IOS: MEC_Qatar.

Earlier this week, the ministry un-veiled a nine-clause initiative to ease warranty terms by local car dealers.

The move was part of MEC’s eff orts to develop the automotive sector, pro-mote competition in maintenance and repair services, and bolster a competi-tive environment that enables clients to avail maintenance and repair serv-ices at the workshop of their choice as well as motivate workshops to improve the effi ciency and quality of their serv-ices.

After conducting a comprehensive study of the prevailing practices gov-erning warranty, the MEC realised that the booklets issued by automobile dis-tributors contained ambiguous phrases that could make it diffi cult for consum-ers to claim coverage.

Following this, the MEC launched a nine-clause initiative to ease warranty terms and got the written consent from 22 local car dealers who have pledged to comply with the provisions of Law number 19 of 2006, which aims to pro-mote competition and prevent monop-oly practices.

The nine clauses include elimination of restrictive clauses and ambiguous expressions in warranty booklets, al-lowing vehicle owners to choose the workshop of their choice for regular service as well as repairs, the freedom to use spare parts procured from out-side but that meet manufacturer speci-fi cations and limiting warranty for-feiture only to spare parts that do not meet the technical requirements.

ReutersGeneva

The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday declared the mosquito-borne Zika virus to be

an international public health emer-gency as the disease linked to thou-sands of suspected cases of birth de-fects in Brazil spreads rapidly.

WHO director-general Margaret

Chan told reporters an international co-ordinated response was needed to improve detection and speed work on a vaccine and better diagnostics, al-though curbs on travel or trade were not necessary.

The emergency designation was rec-ommended by a committee of independ-ent experts to the UN agency following criticism of a hesitant response so far. The move should help fast-track inter-national action and research priorities.

“Members of the committee agreed that the situation meets the conditions for a public health emergency of inter-national concern. I have accepted this advice,” Chan said.

The WHO said last week the Zika virus was “spreading explosively” and could infect as many as 4mn people in the Americas. Brazil is due to host the Olym-pic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

The WHO was lambasted for react-ing too slowly to the Ebola epidemic

in West Africa which killed more than 10,000 people, and has promised to do better in future global health crises.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Thomas Frieden said the declaration “calls the world to ac-tion” on Zika.

“The WHO faced heavy criticism for waiting too long to declare the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency and they should be congratulated for being far more proactive this time,” said Jer-

emy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity.

Derek Gatherer, a lecturer at Lancas-ter University, said the WHO’s move was “like a declaration of war, in this case on Zika virus”.

The WHO’s International Health Regulations emergency committee brings together experts in epidemiol-ogy, public health and infectious dis-eases from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Page 18

WHO declares Zika a global emergency

The Ministry of Public Health has assured the public that no case of Zika virus has been

reported in Qatar. The Public Health Department is working closely with the World Health Organisation - East Mediterranean Regional Offi ce to en-sure that all needed actions are taken to prevent the spread of the virus in the region.

According to a statement issued by the ministry, the entire health sector has been alerted to be ready to deal with any suspected case amongst re-turning travellers. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that transmits the virus is not present in Qatar. “However, fur-ther studies are going on.”

The ministry has asked to report any suspected case to Health Pro-tection and CDC Hotline numbers 66740948 / 66740951.

WHO has advised no travel restric-tions. However, the Ministry of Pub-lic Health has advised all residents to postpone non-essential travel to the 24 aff ected countries; in particular women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant in the near future should consider delaying travel to ar-eas with the Zika virus.

Zika virus infection is a mild febrile viral illness transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mos-

quito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions. The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivi-tis. Other common symptoms include muscle pain and headache.

Reports from several countries, most notably Brazil, demonstrate an increase in severe foetal birth de-fects and poor pregnancy outcomes in babies whose mothers were in-fected with the Zika virus while pregnant. Additional international research is necessary and ongo-ing to determine the link between

the Zika virus and fetal damage.The Zika virus is transmitted by

mosquitoes mostly active during daytime. It is important that all trav-ellers visiting aff ected areas to take protective measures to prevent mos-quito bites throughout the day. These measures include wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants; using insect repellents; using permethrin-treated clothing and gear such as boots, pants, socks, and tents, using bed nets as necessary and staying and sleeping in screened-in or air-condi-tioned rooms.

Qatar free from Zika virus

An Aedes Aegypti mosquito: Zika virus infection is a mild febrile viral illness transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions.

QATAR

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 20162

HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani received a telephone call from Norwegian Minister of Foreign Aff airs Borge Brende yesterday. They discussed bilateral relations and the means to enhance them. They also exchanged views on issues of joint interest.

HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met the General Co-ordinator of the High Negotiations Committee and other HNC delegates representing the Syrian opposition Riyad Hijab on Sunday. They discussed the latest developments of the Syrian crisis, particularly negotiations in Geneva. They also discussed the deterioration of humanitarian conditions in a number of cities.

FM gets phone call from Norway counterpart

Foreign Ministermeets Syrian opposition leader

The vice-chairman of Qatar Chamber (QC) Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Tuwar has received the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Minister of Foreign Aff airs Amina Tcholak at QC headquarters, where they discussed ways of enhancing bilateral business co-operation. Fikri Toros, president of Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce (KTTO), briefed QC members on the available investment opportunities in Turkish Cyprus. He also invited QC to organise a visit of Qatari businessmen to Turkish Cyprus to introduce them closely to the investment infrastructure there. Besides, he suggested that a forum gathering businessmen from both countries should be conducted soon to look into possible partnerships.

Northern Cyprus FM visits Qatar Chamber

Traffi c resumes through key intersection in Duhail

Traffi c to all directions through Jerayan Ne-jaima Intersection, near

the College of North Atlantic Qatar has been resumed, ac-cording to an Ashghal state-ment.

However, some pavement and utilities installation works are still underway on the roads leading to the inter-section, it said while hoping that the opening of the inter-section will contribute to eas-ing the movement of traffi c to and from the nearby edu-cational institutions, given the usual congestion at peak hours.

The opening of Jerayan Ne-jaima Intersection is part of a project to develop roads sur-

rounding residential and other compounds in the Al Duhail area. It is being done as part of Ashghal’s eff orts to enhance the traffi c fl ow and ease the congestion across the coun-try by converting a number of roundabouts into signal-con-trolled intersections.

Sidra wins top accreditation Sidra Medical and Research

Centre (Sidra) has been awarded accreditation by

the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP) eff ective from January 1. Sidra is now ac-credited as a Continuing Medical Education/ Continuing Profes-sional Development (CME/CPD) provider.

There are new developments in all medical fi elds that require practitioners to take part in learning to update their prac-tice. As part of Qatar National Health Strategy, the QCHP has made CME/CPD as mandatory requirement for all healthcare practitioners licensed in Qatar.

CME/CPD is the process by which healthcare providers are en-gaged in continuous learning and

stay abreast of new knowledge, skills and professional attributes that enable them to provide the highest quality patient care.

Following the accreditation, Sidra is eligible to provide CME/CPD credits according to QCHP as well as the Royal College of Canada International (RCCI) criteria and standards.

Dr Abdulla al-Kaabi, acting chief medical offi cer at Sidra, lauded Sidra’s accreditation team during a recent celebra-tion with QCHP. “Receiving the accreditation is an honour and was due to the collective eff ort of the Sidra community and the diligent assistance of the QCHP Accreditation Department.”

Dr al-Kaabi thanked the Sidra physicians, nurses, pharmacists,

allied health practitioners and administrators who spent time

to build the CME/CPD infra-structure. He also acknowledged

those who planned and imple-mented quality CME/CPD edu-cational activities that were used as evidence to support the QCHP accreditation application.

Dr Samar Aboulsoud, acting CEO of QCHP congratulated Sidra on its accreditation. She acknowledged Sidra’s commit-ment to provide quality health-care and continuing education for healthcare practitioners in Qatar. Dr Samar is looking for-ward to the CPD/CME opportu-nities, Sidra will off er to its staff and the wider healthcare com-munity in Qatar.

Sidra is one of four institutions that participated in the QCHP and RCCI Pilot Programme for a new and more stringent stand-ards and criteria.

Dr Samar Aboulsoud handing over the CME/CPD accreditation certificate to Dr Abdulla al-Kaabi.

Marginal increase inQatar’s population

Qatar’s population which had fallen be-tween November and

December last year by nearly 42,000, has shown a marginal rise, as per the latest fi gures is-sued by the statistics authori-ties.

The country’s population includes only those permanent residents who are within its geographical boundaries when the fi gures are announced.

According to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, which released the latest fi gures yesterday, the country houses 2,423,000 res-idents which was at least 8.9% more than the population of the corresponding period last year.

The January 31 fi gures shows a marginal rise of 2,000

people compared to the popu-lation on December 31. The latest fi gure is 2,423,000 while at the end of December there were 2,421,000 residents in the country.

Qatar’s highest ever popula-tion was recorded on Novem-ber 30,2015 when there were 2,463,000 people in the coun-try. Compared to the fi gures of the previous month, there was a rise of 51,000 residents dur-ing the one-month period, it was announced.

In fact the population touched the 2.4mn mark for the fi rst time in October last year, it was reported earlier.

There has been a four-fold rise in the country’s popula-tion in the last 13 years; the growth being the highest in terms of percentage.

The newly installed traff ic signal at Jerayan Nejaima intersection.

QATAR3Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Qatar is taking part in the two-day meeting of the Arab government delegations tasked with the establishment of a permanent commission on intellectual property that began at the headquarters of the Arab Leauge’s General Secretariat here yesterday.

HE the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Aff airs Dr Ghaith bin Mubarak al-Kuwari met Canada’s ambassador to Qatar Adrian Norfolk here yesterday. They discussed bilateral relations and exchanged views on issues of common interest.

Tunisian Minister of Finance Salim Shaker met Qatar’s ambassador to Tunisia Abdullah bin Nasser al-Hamidi here yesterday. Talks during the meeting focused on the existing relations of co-operation between the State of Qatar and Tunisia and ways of enhancing them.

Qatar takes part in Arab govt delegations’ meet

Awqaf Minister meets Canadian ambassador

Tunisian ministermeets Qatari ambassador

Oryx GTL has honoured 127 employees with the “2016 Long Service Award” for their key role and contributions to the company’s sustained successes in a ceremony held at the management headquarters. The executive management and managers thanked the recipients, 84 of which have completed 10 years of service and another 43, who served five years in the company. Oryx GTL Public Relation & Communication manager Thamer Ali al-Kaabi said: “Thank you all for joining us to celebrate and honour the long service achievement of our employees. Your loyalty and support over the years is greatly appreciated and has shaped Oryx GTL into the company that we are today.”

Oryx GTL honours long-serving staff Ex-staff of bank get 10-year jail for stealing cash

Expat sentencedto 5-year jail forillicit drug trade

Two GCC men, former em-ployees of a local bank, have been sentenced to 10

years in jail and a fi ne of QR10mn to be paid jointly for stealing QR10mn from the bank.

Local Arabic daily Arrayah reported yesterday that a Doha Criminal Court ordered the two convicts to refund QR10mn, which they had seized from a frozen account of a client of the bank. Further, the court ordered the dismissal of both the ac-cused from their posts.

The fi rst accused who used to work as a customer service of-fi cer at the bank signed a coun-terfeited request to transfer the sum of QR10mm to the account of the other accused, who also used to be an employee of the bank.

Investigations into the case revealed that the customer serv-ice agent had signed the request according to a plan hatched with his accomplice to grab the mon-ey.

A Doha Criminal Court has sentenced an expatriate man to fi ve years in jail

and fi ned him QR200,000 for illicit drug trade.

Local Arabic daily Al Arab re-ported that the Drug Prevention Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) received infor-mation from a source that the convict used to sell illicit drugs at various areas of the country. Accordingly, a police patrol fol-lowed him and they stopped him while he was driving his vehicle near a petrol station in Al Hilal area.

Upon searching his vehicle, some hashish was found hidden under the accelerator, in addi-tion to some cocaine, ampheta-mine pills, all packed and ready for circulation.

Besides, when taken for a blood test, it turned out that he had consumed illicit drugs. During hearing he confessed to possessing the illicit items for personal use but denied trading in them.

However, the court convicted him based on the investiga-tions and the material evidences seized when he was arrested.

Afghan President Mohamed Ashraf Ghani received the credentials of Saqr bin Mubarak al-Mansouri, the non-resident ambassador of Qatar to Afghanistan. The ambassador conveyed the greetings of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to President Ghani.

Afghan president receives credentialsof Qatar’s envoy

Students debate global issues at THIMUN Qatar The Hague Inter-

national Model United Nations

(THIMUN) Qatar opened in Doha with more than 1,700 students from 87 nationalities taking part in it. Qatar Shell has been the sole sponsor of THIMUN in Qatar for 12 consecutive years.

The conference aims to promote the develop-ment of leadership skills amongst high school stu-dents through discussion, debates and negotiations that address real-world problems and pressing is-sues.

Mohamed Abu Jbara, manager, corporate social responsibility at Qatar Shell, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony. “Qatar Shell is very proud to have sup-ported this outstanding

programme for 12 years since it fi rst started as the Qatar MUN Programme then became The Hague International Model Unit-ed Nations Programme fi ve years ago. THIMUN touches both human and social pillars of the Qa-tar National Vision 2030 which we strongly sup-port, through its focus on education, teamwork, and leadership.”

Lisa Martin, head of THIMUN Qatar, said, “THIMUN Qatar is unique because it is a student led programme with high school students running

the conference for their peers.

The event allows stu-dents to discuss chal-lenging international is-sues, but perhaps more importantly, by allowing students to organise this event, it is an important opportunity for students to practise real-world leadership skills on an in-ternational scale.”

During the conference, students participated in a wide variety of commit-tees, including a general assembly, disarmament, human rights and en-vironment committee. THIMUN Qatar also hosts a special committee and advisory panel that fo-cuses on major issues in the host region allowing for a unique opportunity for youth to collaborate on current global issues.

Participants at THIMUN Qatar.

“Qatar Shell is very proud to have supported this outstanding programme for 12 years”

HBKU workshop to focus on role of peace education in Africa

Hamad Bin Kha-lifa University (HBKU), a mem-

ber of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), will hold a two-day international workshop on the role of peace education in Africa.

The workshop, titled “Peace Education: Qatar Engagement in Mapping of Policies, Programmes and Resources in Africa”, will be held at the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies building in Education City on February 8 and 9.

The event will bring together renowned aca-demics, United Nations delegates, and prominent practitioners to discuss a number of crucial issues in education and peace-building that can aff ect Africa’s socioeconomic and political transforma-tion.

The workshop high-lights the role that univer-sities should play in fos-tering peace education in diverse post-confl ict and confl ict-prone countries. Panellists will discuss the most eff ective ways uni-versities in war-aff ected countries can be func-tionally relevant to the everyday needs and chal-lenges of their immediate environment by promot-ing peace building through peace education.

Participants will dis-

cuss lessons from Qatar and analyse specifi c strat-egies, case studies, and new ideas utilised in the building of peaceful and resilient communities.

Dr Abdullahi Hussein from Qatar National Re-search Fund, Hany Besada from the United Nations and University of Ottawa, and Dr Mohammed Evren Tok, assistant professor of Public Policy in Islam at HBKU’s Faculty of Is-lamic Studies will open the event.

There will be panellists from various international organisations, such as the United Nations, World Bank, New York Univer-

sity, University of Oxford, Education Above All, the African Union Commis-sion, Plan International, and Women in Cities In-ternational.

Dr Tok said, “This in-ternational workshop will help identify current and necessary capacities, and impacts of multi-level education actors to develop social cohesion through confl ict-sensitive education protocols and mechanisms as well as to improve our understand-ing of the capacities for peace building leadership development and resource management at varying levels.”

A peace education poster featuring a child.

QATAR

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 20164

UK sees rise in tourists with push for countryside hubs VisitBritain, the national tour-

ism agency of the United Kingdom (UK), has ex-

pressed confi dence that more tour-ists from GCC countries would visit the UK despite the current global oil price crisis.

Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of “Great Britain Great Mo-ments Campaign” launched in Doha yesterday, Sumathi Ramanathan, re-gional general manager, Asia Pacifi c and Middle East, VisitBritain, said the number of visitors from the Gulf, including Qatar, has been increasing year on year.

VisitBritain recorded around 59,000 visitors from Qatar in 2014 and 63,000 (46% of them Qataris) in the fi rst nine months of 2015, an in-crease of 33% in the same period in the previous year.

Tourist (Qatar visitors) spending reached £123mn during the same period, translating to an increase of 19% compared with 2014 fi gures.

At total of 576,000 tourists from the GCC visited the UK in the fi rst nine months of 2015, an increase of 18% during the same period in 2014, with visitors spending £1.2bn (6% up).

Another factor she cited is the in-creasing investments of airline part-ners by launching more fl ights to sev-eral destinations in the UK to provide customers more choices.

The UK electronic visa waver for selected countries also received a positive response from their target market.

“We invested £3mn into this mar-ket (Gulf) in the last three years and as you can see our relationship not only extends to the media and trade but it also goes to grassroots infl uencers

who can actually talk to their peers and infl uence them,” Ramanathan said. “A combination of these factors means that we are in a good position.”

While London has become a sec-ond home to many Qataris, the UK is exerting eff orts to promote destina-tions in the countryside such as Ed-inburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Yorkshire, among others.

“Because of the football connec-tion, Manchester is becoming more popular as well as Edinburgh because of World Heritage Sites and its dy-namic culture,” she added.

VisitBritain also sees the Gulf market starting to explore Birming-ham because of its proximity to a shopping village and outlets.

According to Ramanathan, these destinations outside London have started to become popular particu-larly to families who travel with their children during holidays.

A number of UK products and handicraft have also attracted many tourists to visit the eastern part of London, a popular place of independent designers.

About the impact of the terror-ist attacks in various places, she said such incidents happen across the world but will not prevent people from travelling from one country to another.

“Travellers are not allowing these incidences to stop them from trav-elling and I think that is really what is encouraging and the more people travel, the more they understand each other’s culture, and the better it would be to build relationships,” she noted.

“It is going to be a challenging cli-mate in the next few years but Britain is holding itself well and I think we have invested signifi cantly,” said Ra-manathan, who was bullish about the forecast for the Gulf region.

By Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

From left: VisitBritain off icials Sumathi Ramanathan and Christina Bruns, and UK ambassador Ajay Sharma at the opening of the “Great Britain Great Moments Campaign” in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Thajudeen

VisitBritain partners with celebrities to promote destinations VisitBritain has partnered with two of the most popular social media celebrities in Qatar to spearhead a campaign to promote UK tourist destinations.At a press conference held yesterday attended by UK ambassador Ajay Sharma, Qatari comedian and filmmaker Hamad al-Amari and iloveqatar.net founder Khalifa al-Haroon shared their cultural experience at the world’s biggest art and culture festival in Edinburgh.The first phase of the “Great Britain Great Moments Campaign” drove visitors to engage with VisitBritain’s social celebrities, directing them to a landing page with fascinating images,

cinemagraphs and videos from the exciting and bespoke influencers’ trips. The second phase gets underway this month and will feature a partnership with Qatar Airways to drive conversion and provide promotional off ers for travellers to fly into some of the Britain’s most exciting destinations including Manchester, Edinburgh, London and the soon to launch Birmingham route.Kicked off in July 2015, the campaign includes snapshots and videos of special moments experienced by social media celebrities from the region including al-Amari and al-Haroon. It aims to inspire and encourage visitors to explore

more of regional Britain and find their own amazing moments.“I am delighted that the UK continues to be one of the most popular destinations for Qataris. I hope that even more visitors from Qatar and the region will discover all that the UK has to off er - the world’s top museums, a culture steeped in history, outstanding music and sporting events, and stunning countryside,” ambassador Sharma said.Visitors to the site http://lovewall.visitbritain.com/en/1100/ and followers of VisitBritain’s social media accounts were also invited to share these images through their own social media

channels using the hashtag #nothingnicer. Winners will receive a dream vacation to their favourite British countryside destination.Qatar Airways senior vice president (commercial) Ehab Amin said they will begin direct flights to Birmingham on March 30. “The UK is a very popular destination for our Qatar market and we are looking forward to working together with VisitBritan to introduce our destinations in the United Kingdom.”Qatar Airways has six daily flights to London and a double daily flight to Manchester, according to Mohamed Waqas, who also noted a double-digit growth for the airline.

HMC receives re-accreditation for nursing education

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has earned re-accreditation, with distinction, as a provider for continuing professional development from the American Nursing Credentialling Centre (ANCC). ANCC accreditation distinguishes organisations that demonstrate quality and excellence in the design and delivery of continuing nursing education. The prestigious re-accreditation was obtained in December by HMC’s Department of Nursing and Midwifery Education and Research and was supported through the academic health system. The designation places HMC among an elite class of healthcare organisations and demonstrates the importance placed on supporting clinical staff through providing high-quality professional development opportunities.Prof Ann-Marie Cannaby, chief nursing off icer at HMC, said the Department of Nursing and Midwifery Education and Research underwent an extensive evaluation prior to receiving the re-accreditation. “ANCC accreditation validates a commitment to providing access to the highest calibre of continuing nursing education,” she added.According to Prof Cannaby, ANCC accreditation demonstrates that HMC has met comprehensive, evidenced-based criteria of international standards. In February 2014, HMC became the first organisation in the GCC and only the third in the Middle East, to be accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by ANCC. The re-accreditation places HMC in the top 10% of organisations worldwide to receive the honour; only organisations that demonstrate zero deficiencies achieve accreditation with distinction.

Businessman donates QR4.28mn to QRCS housing project for Syrians

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has received a donation of QR4.28mn from business-

man Nasser Rashid bin Sraiya al-Kaa-bi, in support of the ‘Honourable Life,’ a development project initiated by QRCS to provide housing for the Syrian families.

The donation will be used to estab-lish ‘Bin Sraiya Charitable Town’, to be built in the same manner as the clay houses completed by QRCS in Afes, Idlib countryside, using clay blocks from the natural environment in Syria.

The new project involves building 200 clay houses with full infrastruc-ture – water supply, surface water well, tank, sewerage network, power supply, roads, land levelling, and gardens. This part of the project will cost QR2.35mn.

In addition, there will be service utilities including the establishment and one-year operation of a school, bakery, health centre, workshop for

widows, market, two mosques, and solid waste removal system. The cost of these works is estimated at QR1.93mn.

The project is expected to serve 200 families (1,600 people), mostly com-prising widows, orphans, and people with disabilities living in makeshift camps in the district. Also, there will be thousands of indirect benefi ciaries from the activation of the trade and economic activity, as well as the camp residents, who will fi nd more access to the available health and other human-itarian services.

Lately, QRCS has handed over the fi rst batch of clay houses for 100 fami-lies (600 people) in Afes, at a total cost of QR866,739. This phase involved building 100 clay houses with water, sewage, electricity, roads, and gardens.

Each 36sqm house will consist of two rooms, a reception, one kitchen, and one bathroom, at a cost of QR6,100,

apart from the cost of landpreparation, infrastructure, and utilities.

The project has a positive impact on the local economy by creating job opportunities for construction and transportation workers, as well as pro-curing the building supplies from the local market.

Socially, the project will improve the lives of the benefi ciaries by ensuring that every family will have a separate house with all facilities. Unlike emer-gency shelter tents, these houses are fi t to protect the families against heat in the summer and cold weather in the winter.

Currently, QRCS is preparing for the second phase, which involves con-structing 2,000 clay houses over 2016 in several towns of Aleppo and Idlib countryside, building upon the lessons learnt from the current project, with new design and execution techniques to make use of the site-specifi c advan-tages, as well as better equipment.

Al Fakhoora’s programme empowers Palestinian youths with job skills

Al Fakhoora’s Dynamic Futures Programme has been able to pro-vide economic empowerment to

Palestinian youths as 73% alumni of the programme obtained job opportunities, both short-and long-term.

Al Fakhoora, a programme of Edu-cation Above All Foundation, unveiled yesterday the impact assessment of the Dynamic Futures Programme, which has been active in Gaza since 2009 in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report showcases the outstanding results achieved impact-ing the lives of Palestinian youths in terms of interpersonal skills and em-ployment opportunities.

Five-hundred-eighty students have benefi tted from the Fakhoora scholarship programme, with a bal-anced male-female representation of 550 undergraduates and 30 graduates. Participants engaged in a variety of life skills training and volunteering activi-ties, reported that they felt an increase in self-confi dence, communication skills as well as a strong sense of pride.

One student expressed the benefi ts of the programme explaining that it helped in “breaking the barriers of fear, shame, confusion and lack of personal skills and boosting self-confi dence”.

Students after receiving their certificates.

Farooq Burney, director, Al Fakhoo-ra, said: “The Al Fakhoora programme truly empowers Palestinian youth to become leaders of their communities as well as world through education. We are proud to see the direct impact of our academic programmes and trainings on the lives of youth in Gaza. The results are very rewarding and encouraging. We will continue our eff orts to support the education sector in the Gaza Strip”.

The report takes a holistic approach to assessing progress over the past fi ve years of the programme, taking into account responses from former par-ticipants, participating educational institutions, implementing partners and other stakeholders.

As many as 214 participants have

successfully completed academic pro-grammes and 75% of students achieved a Grade Point Average (GPA) range be-tween outstanding to very good. High GPAs are partly due to the security felt by the students, allowing them to fully concentrate on their education.

In addition, 21 classrooms benefi tted from new IT equipment and 42 academ-ic staff were trained over four courses.

About 82% of students expressed satisfaction with services provided by student aff airs managed by Al Fakhoo-ra. Another 90% of students felt that the programme helped them value the importance of voluntary work, par-ticularly needed in a context like Gaza. Some 44% of students are already involved in community services.

5Gulf TimesTuesday, February 2, 2016

QATAR

UK, QC discussco-operation incharity work Britain’s Minister of State

at the Department of In-ternational Development

(DfID) Desmond Swayne and his accompanying delegation has called on Qatar Charity to discuss co-operation and joint co-ordination in diff erent fi elds of humanitarian work.

Qatar Charity CEO Yousef bin Ahmed al-Kuwari received Swayne at the QC’s headquar-ters in the presence of QC direc-tor of operations for Interna-tional Development Mohamed bin Ali al-Ghamedi and QC di-rector of Monitoring and Evalu-ation Unit in International De-velopment Jasim al-Najmawi.

The British delegation was composed of DfID Representa-tive - Gulf States Jessica Ervin,

UK ambassador to Qatar Ayjay Sharma, Secretary for Politics, Economics, and Energy at the British Embassy in Qatar Yousef Isma’il, and Secretary of the British DfID Ollie Sharp.

Swayne complimented the QC’s role in the fi eld of inter-national humanitarian work and expressed hopes that “such bestowal that refl ected Qatar’s bright side would continue.”

Al-Kuwari said: “Qatar Charity had a great desire to co-operate and co-ordinate with international development agencies and international or-ganisations, which are active in the humanitarian fi eld.”

He added: “This desire rose from Qatar Charity’s concern about relieving the suff ering of

people aff ected by humanitar-ian crises around the world, especially in Syria and Yemen.”

According to al-Kuwari, QC is organising a convention in Yemen from February 22 to 24, in co-ordination with regional and international humanitar-ian organisations. He also em-phasised the desire of DfID to attend and participate in the convention.

After a short presentation on the QC’s eff orts and its “fa-voured position among inter-national humanitarian organi-sations,” al-Kuwari presented a memorial shield to Swayne, who, in turn, invited QC to visit the DfID in Britain to consult on diff erent fi elds of co-operation and co-ordination.

Qatar Charity CEO Yousef bin Ahmed al-Kuwari presents a memento to Minister of State at the Department of International Development Desmond Swayne.

Ooredoo launches new‘online support service’ Ooredoo has launched a

new service on its popu-lar ‘My Ooredoo’ web-

site, which gives customers a dedicated place to contact the company, register issues and re-ceive feedback.

In addition, recognising the growing demand for social me-dia response, the company has launched a dedicated @Oore-dooCare Twitter profi le.

The new ‘Online Support Service’ will enable customers to submit any issues and receive easily-tracked ticket numbers directly from the dedicated cus-tomer support team.

The feature, which has been launched to give customers more control over their services and to expand Ooredoo’s ongoing digital universe programme, will

provide the easiest and fastest way for customers to interact with Ooredoo.

Ooredoo Director (Commu-nity & Public Relations) Fatima Sultan al-Kuwari said: “We wanted to give our customers a dedicated hub to contact us since increasingly people look for support and services online. With the launch of this service, customers will be able to contact a dedicated team-member, who will be responsible for answer-ing their questions and resolving their problems. This will deliver a faster response for customers, and ensure a better overall expe-rience.”

Ooredoo’s new social media account @OoredooCare, is a dedicated customer service pro-fi le on Twitter.

The profi le, which will be managed by Ooredoo’s customer service team, aims to provide quick and eff ective feedback to customers online, and help sup-port the infl ux of feedback re-ceived daily via the company’s social media accounts.

“More and more of our cus-tomers want to be able to contact us on-the-go and wherever they are in the world. @OoredooCare will off er a dedicated space for people to ask us questions, tweet concerns or fi nd out about a service from their phones,” al-Kuwari added.

In order to take full advantage of the new ‘My Ooredoo’ feature customers should register for a My Ooredoo Account. If they are already registered, they can log in to fi nd a host of registered

services, including the Online Support Service.

Customers who don’t have a My Ooredoo Account can also raise and view issue tickets on-line using the service via the ‘My Ooredoo’ website portal.

‘My Ooredoo’ enables Hala and Shahry customers to moni-tor their bills, as well as sub-scribe to a range of post-paid and prepaid services wherever they are in the world, via laptop, desktop, tablet or smartphone.

Ooredoo continues to inno-vate in the ways it supports the customer experience online. In 2014, it launched ‘Ooredoo Community”, a space for cus-tomers to ask and answer ques-tions about services and techni-cal issues with a community of members.

Jewellery chain unveils ‘Hearts of Love’ collection

Malabar Gold & Dia-monds has launched a special edition of dia-

mond-studded jewellery col-lection named “Hearts of Love” to celebrate the season of love.

Diamonds are a symbol of eternity and a timeless inter-pretation of love. As the de-mand for heart-shaped jew-ellery increases during this season of love, the jewellery chain launched an exclusive collection of heart-shaped jew-ellery to cater to the customer demand.

The stunningly-romantic collection of diamond jewellery is a unique way to express one’s

feelings, aff ection, and togetherness. Each piece in the col-lection was specially-designed with an aura of love and is easily aff ordable.

Their spectacular piece of heart-shaped 3-in-1 diamond pendant is a perfect gift to express true emotions to loved ones. The pendant, available in diff erent colours like white gold, yellow gold, and rose gold, comes at a special promotional price of QR1,850.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds has also unveiled limited edition

of twin-heart and tri-ple- heart pendants sparkling with dia-monds ranging from QR650 to QR2,650. It is also off ering multi-ple number of amaz-ing diamond jewellery sets to celebrate the

season and each set comprises of beautifully-crafted pendant, pair of earrings, and fi nger ring. The sets are available at an af-fordable price of QR1,950.

To add more delight to the occasion, customers can also avail themselves of a branded Esprit or Westar watch free with this limited edition jewellery.

Council discusses plans to develop services in villages The Advisory Council yesterday discussed at a meeting the Public Services and Utilities Committee’s report about a proposal to develop services in villages throughout the country. The Council decided to submit its recommendations to the Council of Ministers. Also yesterday the Advisory Council’s Internal and External Aff airs Committee discussed a request by members on the delay in issuing licences of establishments at the General Directorate of Civil Defence. The meeting was attended by head of the Engineering Plans Sections at the Prevention Department Ahmed Khalid al-Ghanim and Head of the Inspection Section at the Prevention Department First Lieutenant Nasser Ziyara who explained the Ministry of the Interior’s viewpoint and responded to members’ inquiries.

REGION

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 20166

South Yementown seizedby militantsof Al Qaeda AgenciesAden

Dozens of Al Qaeda mili-tants reclaimed the town of Azzan in Yemen’s

Shabwa province yesterday, resi-dents said, exploiting a security vacuum in the country’s south as a civil war rages.

Azzan is a major commercial hub of about 70,000 people in an arid and mountainous region and was controlled by Al Qaeda for around a year until the group was ejected in 2012 by an alliance of tribesmen and armed residents loyal to Yemen’s since ousted central government.

“Dozens of Al Qaeda gunmen arrived in the early hours of the morning and set up checkpoints at the entrances to the town and in its streets. They planted their black fl ag on government build-ings,” one resident who declined to be named said by telephone.

“They faced no resistance or clashes,” the resident said, adding that tribal militia forces quit the area as it was being taken over.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula (AQAP) has expanded during Yemen’s civil war, which triggered a military intervention by a Gulf Arab coalition last March, and also controls the major port of Mukalla in a neighbouring province.

Azzan lies on the highway be-tween Shabwa province capital Ataq and Mukalla, the capital of the vast desert Hadramout prov-ince.

AQAP fi ghters briefl y seized the southern town of Jaar in De-cember in what analysts said was a “show of force” to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Islamist militants, includ-ing AQAP and the Islamic State group, have also gained ground in and around the main southern city of Aden, where Hadi’s gov-ernment has established its tem-porary headquarters.

AQAP is viewed by Western analysts as the most dangerous arm of the global militant or-ganisation, and claimed respon-sibility for the deadly January 2015 attack in Paris on the sa-tirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

It has made its advances in Yemen as the Saudi-led coali-tion forces, which back the ousted government, have clashed with the country’s ascendant Houthi movement, which they fear is a proxy for Iran. The Houthis and Iran deny this.

An 11-year-old child was killed and nine members of his family were wounded on Sunday when a rocket fi red from Yemen hit their house in a border region of Saudi Arabia, civil defence au-thorities said.

The child died instantly while the rest of the family were taken to hospital, according to Lieu-tenant Colonel Ali bin Omair al-Shahrani, who was quoted by the offi cial SPA news agency.

Houthi rebels have intensifi ed cross-border rocket attacks since late last year.

Rafsanjani criticises pollexclusion of reformists Rafsanjani’s comments indirectly target supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

AgenciesDubai

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsan-jani yesterday criticised

the disqualifi cation of reformist candidates by hardliners from national elections later this month, deepening a dispute be-tween the two factions.

The Guardian Council, a vet-ting body made up of clerics and jurists, excluded thousands of parliamentary hopefuls and

four-fi fths of the candidates for the body that will choose Iran’s next supreme leader.

The move was a setback to moderate president Hassan Rouhani and Rafsanjani, his powerful ally who was president between 1989 and 1997.

Among those excluded was Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Islamic Republic’s fi rst su-preme leader, Ayatollah Kho-meini, who has close ties to re-formists.

“They disqualifi ed the grand-son of Imam Khomeini, who is the most similar person to his grandfather,” Rafsanjani said, according to Isna news agency, at a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Khomeini’s

return to Tehran from France during the 1979 revolution.

“Who decided you are quali-fi ed to judge the others? Who gave you the right to take all the guns, have all the Friday prayer platforms and run state tel-evision?” he added, referring to hardliners.

Rafsanjani’s comments in-directly target supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is commander-in-chief of the armed forces and who appoints the head of state television, the Friday prayer leaders around the country and half of the members of the Guardian Council.

Rafsanjani, 78, was Friday prayer leader in Tehran before he was dismissed from the position

when he backed the opposition movement whose protests were crushed after the last, disputed election in 2009.

The Guardian Council dis-qualifi ed him from the next presidential election.

Elections to the 290-seat parliament and 88-member As-sembly of Experts are due to take place on February 26.

Iran’s success in winning an end to international sanctions in exchange for curbing its dis-puted nuclear programme is expected to intensify a power struggle within an elite split into conservative and moderate-re-formist factions.

Khamenei grudgingly allowed Rouhani to negotiate the nuclear

deal after the moderate cleric won a landslide election in 2013 on a pledge of easing Iran’s iso-lation abroad and repression at home.

But hardliners now fear that voters, hoping living standards can rise with sanctions out of the way, will reward pro-Rou-hani candidates in the elections, with the vote for the Assembly of Experts in particular crucial in shaping Iran’s future path.

Hassan Khomeini, a cleric aged 43, said on Friday he would appeal being barred from run-ning in the polls.

Khomeini, who failed to at-tend a qualifying exam, said other candidates had been vet-ted even without taking the test.

Schoolgirls walk past a giant board displaying pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini as Iranians mark the start of 10 days of celebrations for the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution yesterday at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran.

US offi cials don’t believeAmericans held in Saudi ReutersRiyadh

US offi cials said on Sunday they did not believe nine US citi-zens were among 33 suspects

detained on terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia over the past week, as reported by a Saudi newspaper.

The English-language daily Saudi Gazette, citing an unnamed source, on Sunday reported that four Americans were detained last Monday, followed by another fi ve in the following days. Saudi authorities also detained 14 Saudis, three Yemenis, two Syrians, an Indone-sian, a Filipino, a UAE citizen, a Pales-tinian and a citizen of Kazakhstan, the report said.

Six US offi cials told Reuters that the US government could not confi rm that any Americans were among the 33 sus-pects detained.

However, two offi cials said US au-thorities were still checking names against databases. Saudi authorities were also investigating the citizenship of those detained, one of the offi cials said.

None of the US offi cials was author-ised to speak publicly, and the US em-

bassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia in 2014 declared Islamic State a terrorist organisation and has detained hundreds of its supporters. The group, which controls territory in Iraq and Syria, has staged a series of at-tacks in the kingdom.

On Friday an attack at a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahsa district in Eastern Province killed four people and injured 18, the latest in a string of at-tacks claimed by Islamist militants that have left over 50 dead in the past year.

The website of the interior ministry’s

militant rehabilitation centre listed four US citizens as having been detained on January 25 and four more over the pre-vious three months. It did not list any more recent detentions.

The interior ministry spokesman di-rected Reuters to the website, which gives information on all people detained as militant suspects, but gave no further comment.

The ministry on Saturday identi-fi ed one of the attackers in Al Ahsa as 22-year-old Abdulrahman al-Tuwaijri, a Saudi citizen, who detonated an ex-plosive vest outside the Imam Rida mosque in the Mahasen district of Ho-fuf in Al Ahsa.

A 27-year-old was also arrested wearing an explosive vest and carrying hand grenades when members of the mosque’s congregation seized him after he fi red shots at them during the attack, the ministry said.

Attacks by supporters of Islamic State in Saudi Arabia include two bomb-ings and two mass shootings at Shia mosques. A mosque used by Sunni se-curity services was also bombed

The Saudi clergy have denounced the group as “kharijites”, an early Islamic sect reviled by Muslims for its extreme ideology.

Egyptian named asaccomplice in attack

Saudi authorities said yesterday that

an Egyptian man was the second

assailant in the weekend suicide bomb-

ing at a Shia mosque which killed four

people and wounded 36 others.

The interior ministry identified the man

who was overpowered by worshippers

during Friday’s attack as Talha Hisham

Mohamed Abdo.

Witnesses had said he randomly

shot at worshippers before he was

disarmed.

A man releases a hunting falcon at the Al-Marzoon hunting reserve, 60km south of Madinat Zayed, in the United Arab Emirates yesterday.

Get set, go

ARAB WORLD7Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Israel restricts access to Ramallah after shooting

Ban warns two-statesolution hopes dying

Remains of ancient Egyptian boat found

UN announcesstart of peacetalks as Syriaforces advance

AFPJerusalem

Israel restricted access yes-terday into and out of the Palestinian political capital

of Ramallah on the occupied West Bank after a checkpoint shooting that wounded sol-diers, stepping up its response to attacks.

It was the fi rst time such a step was taken by Israel since the wave of Palestinian attacks began in October, according to Israeli media.

The move kept commut-ers from leaving or entering the West Bank city and led to frustration as lengthy queues formed in some areas.

It also applied to foreigners, although United Nations offi -cials, international NGOs and diplomatic staff were exempt-ed, diplomatic and UN sources said.

The army said only residents of Ramallah were being allowed in, while non-residents were permitted to leave.

A military source said greater emphasis was being placed on checking those exiting, while indicating he did not expect the restrictions to be in place for an extended period.

It was not clear when the

last time such a move had been taken by Israel, though heavy restrictions were put in place during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, between 2000 and 2005.

Enforcement of the measures varied signifi cantly. Check-points near Jerusalem remained open and appeared to be oper-ating normally.

Sunday’s attack saw a Pal-estinian who had worked as a guard for the attorney general’s offi ce in Ramallah open fi re at a checkpoint outside the city, wounding three Israeli soldiers before being shot dead.

It was part of four months of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Is-raelis. Most of the attacks have been stabbings, though shoot-ings have also occurred.

The shooting near Ramallah, where the Palestinian Author-ity is based, marked at least the second time a Palestinian secu-rity offi cer has been implicated in an attack in the current wave of violence.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at Palestinian Presi-dent Mahmoud Abbas on his Facebook page, saying he “has not condemned this attack that was carried out by one of his men”.

The checkpoint where Sun-day’s shooting occurred was closed yesterday.

Several other roads connect-ing Ramallah with the northern West Bank were also closed or restricted. At one checkpoint, soldiers were checking cars leaving but not those entering.

A large number of Palestin-ians, aid workers and diplomats commute to Ramallah on a daily basis.

“The travel restriction on Palestinians is having an ef-fect in terms of our ability to engage”, one Western diplomat said.

“A number of meetings have been called off because Pales-tinian interlocutors have not been able to get to the meeting site.”

Palestinians queueing to leave Ramallah said they con-sidered the measure collective punishment for Sunday’s at-tack.

One woman in her 30s wait-ing in a taxi gave her name as Aline and said she was missing a court date in Nablus in the northern West Bank.

“The question is until when this will happen?” she asked.

“Every time someone has a gun and goes to shoot the Is-raeli army? Neither the (Pales-tinian) president is harmed or

anyone else. Only the people are harmed.”

Violence since October has killed 25 Israelis, as well as an American and an Eritrean.

At the same time, 161 Pal-estinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while alleg-edly carrying out attacks but others during clashes and dem-onstrations.

Some analysts say Palestin-ian frustration with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace eff orts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest.

Israel blames incitement by Palestinian leaders and media as a main cause of the vio-lence.

Many of the attackers have been young people, including teenagers, who appear to have been acting on their own.

The Ramallah restrictions seemed to indicate a harsher re-sponse to the violence by Israel, with Netanyahu under political pressure over his government’s failure to halt the attacks.

There have been warnings, including from Israeli security offi cials, that imposing heavy restrictions on Palestinians could further infl ame the vio-lence and lead to a full-scale uprising.

ReutersUnited Nations

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is con-cerned a stalemate in

the peace process between Is-rael and Palestinians is reach-ing the point of no return for a two-state solution.

“The time has come for Is-raelis, Palestinians and the in-ternational community to read the writing on the wall: The status quo is untenable,” Ban wrote in an opinion piece pub-lished in the New York Times late on Sunday. “Keeping an-other people under indefi nite occupation undermines the security and the future of both Israelis and Palestinians.”

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem - areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu slammed Ban last week, saying he gave a “tailwind to terrorism” after the secretary general put some of the blame on Israel for four months of stabbings and car rammings by Palestinians.

Ban, who will step down at the end of 2016 after 10 years as UN chief, had told the UN Security Council that it is “hu-man nature to react to occupa-tion”.

“I will always stand up to those who challenge Israel’s right to exist,” Ban said in the Times, “just as I will always defend the right of Palestinians to have a state of their own. That is why I am so concerned that we are reaching a point of no return for the two-state so-lution.”

The United States and the European Union - Israel’s clos-est allies - also have had unu-sually stern criticism of Israel

in recent weeks, refl ecting their frustrations with Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

“When heartfelt concerns about shortsighted or mor-ally damaging policies ema-nate from so many sources, including Israel’s closest friends, it cannot be sustain-able to keep lashing out at every well-intentioned crit-ic,” Ban wrote.

US-led eff orts to broker a “two-state solution” collapsed in 2014. France said on Friday it will recognise a Palestinian state if a fi nal push that Paris plans to lead for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians fails.

“The stalemate carries grave risks for both sides: a con-tinuation of the deadly wave of terrorism and killings; the collapse of the Palestinian Au-thority; greater isolation of and international pressure on Is-rael,” Ban wrote.

AFPCairo

Czech archaeologists have unearthed an an-cient funerary boat near

the Abusir pyramids south of Cairo, officials said yesterday, in a discovery that could shed light on shipbuilding in ancient Egypt.

The discovery of the more than 4,500-year-old remains of the wooden vessel, which ar-chaeologists believe belonged to a prominent member of society, was made at the Abusir South cemetery, an antiquities minis-try statement said.

While members of the team were clearing a mastaba or an-cient tomb, they found parts of the 18m-long boat covered in sand and lying on a bed of stones, the ministry said.

“This is a highly unusual discovery since boats of such a size and construction were during this period reserved solely for top members of the

society, who usually belonged to the royal family,” the direc-tor of the Czech mission said in the statement.

The remains were found bur-ied near the mastaba’s southern wall, indicating the “extraordi-nary social position of the owner of the tomb”, Miroslav Barta said.

The boat’s length and pottery found with it shows that it could be from the end of the third or beginning of the fourth dynasty, the ministry said.

“The wooden planks were joined by wooden pegs that are still visible in their original posi-tion. Extraordinarily, the desert sand has preserved the plant fi bre battens which covered the planking seams,” it said.

“It is by all means a remark-able discovery,” Barta said.

“The careful excavation and recording of the Abusir boat will make a considerable con-tribution to our understanding of ancient Egyptian watercraft and their place in funerary cult.”

The opposition says government and allied forces are pressing off ensives across important areas of western Syria

ReutersGeneva/Beirut/Rome

The United Nations an-nounced yesterday peace talks for Syria had begun

and called on world powers to push for a ceasefi re, even as gov-ernment forces, backed by Rus-sian air strikes, launched their biggest off ensive near Aleppo in a year.

Government troops and allied fi ghters captured hilly coun-tryside near Aleppo yesterday, putting a key supply route used by opposition forces into fi ring range, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Rebels said the off ensive was being conducted with massive Russian air support, despite a promise of goodwill steps by the Syrian government to spur peace negotiations.

The opposition has said that without a halt to bombing, the lifting of sieges on towns and freeing of prisoners, it will not participate in talks in Geneva called by the United Nations.

Nevertheless, opposition del-egates met in Geneva for two hours with UN envoy Staff an de Mistura, who said this session marked the offi cial beginning of peace talks. He also said that the Syrian people deserved to see improvements on the ground and the opposition had a “strong point” in demanding goodwill steps.

International powers should immediately begin talks on how to enforce a ceasefi re, he said.

The government’s military as-sault has overshadowed de Mis-

tura’s attempts to convene the fi rst peace negotiations in two years, intended to start as “prox-imity talks”, with government and opposition delegations in separate rooms.

The Geneva peace talks mark the fi rst attempt in two years to hold negotiations to end a war that has drawn in regional and international powers, killed at least 250,000 people and forced 10mn from their homes.

The death toll from an IS suicide attack near Damascus climbed to more than 70 people, the Observatory said. The at-tack targeted a government-held neighbourhood that is home to Syria’s holiest Shia shrine.

Opposition delegates agreed late on Friday to travel to Geneva after saying they had received guarantees to improve the situ-ation on the ground, such as a release of detainees and a halt to attacks on civilian areas.

But the opposition says there has been no easing of the con-fl ict, with government and allied forces including Iranian militias pressing off ensives across im-portant areas of western Syria, most recently north of Aleppo.

“The (latest) attack started at 2am, with air strikes and mis-siles,” said rebel commander Ahmed al-Seoud, describing the situation near Aleppo, once Syr-ia’s biggest city and commercial centre, now partly ruined and divided between government and insurgent control.

Seoud said his Free Syrian Army group had sent reinforce-ments to an area near the village of Bashkoy.

“We took guarantees from America and Saudi to enter the negotiations ... (but) the re-gime has no goodwill and has not shown us any goodwill,” he said from nearby Idlib province.

The British-based Observa-tory monitoring group said

government forces were gain-ing ground in the area, and had captured most of the village of Duweir al-Zeitun near Bashkoy. It reported dozens of air strikes yesterday morning. Syrian state television also said government forces were advancing.

The fi ghting has created a new fl ow of refugees. A Turkish disaster agency said more than 3,600 Turkmens and Arabs fl ee-ing advancing pro-government forces in northern Latakia prov-ince had crossed into Turkey in the past four days.

The opposition High Negotia-tions Committee (HNC) indicat-ed it would leave Geneva unless peace moves were implemented.

The United Nations said yes-terday the Syrian government had approved “in principle” a UN request for aid deliveries to the town of Madaya, under siege from government forces, as well as the towns of Al Foua and Ke-fraya, beset by insurgents.

“Based on this, the UN will submit a detailed list of sup-plies and other details; and will include and reiterate the request for nutrition supplies and en-try of nutrition/health assess-ment teams,” said Jenes Laerke, spokesman for the UN Offi ce for the Co-ordination of Humani-tarian Aff airs. No date was given for aid shipments.

Opposition delegate Farrah Atassi said government forces were escalating their military campaign, making it hard to jus-tify the opposition’s presence in Geneva.

“Today, we are going to Mr De Mistura to demand again and again, for a thousand times, that the Syrian opposition is keen to end the suff ering of the Syrian people,” Atassi said. “However, we cannot ask the Syrian oppo-sition to engage in any negotia-tion with the regime under this escalation.”

A handout picture released by the Egyptian antiquities ministry yesterday shows workers at the site where Czech archaeologists discovered the ancient funerary boat.

An Israeli soldier checks the documents of the Palestinian passengers of a taxi on their way out of the West Bank village of Ein Sinya, northern Ramallah, yesterday.

A Dubai court sentenced a policeman to one month in prison yesterday for posting a video showing Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi’s passport on social media, local media reported. The incident occurred in December at Dubai airport, where Messi had landed to attend the Globe Soccer Awards. The policeman wanted a photo of himself with the footballer, but was told the star was tired from the flight, The National daily reported last month. “I then went to the passport control desk and noticed that Messi’s passport had been left there, so I picked it up and shot a video of myself while holding it,” it quoted the policeman as saying.

At least four people were killed and 27 injured after a huge fire erupted yesterday at a private hospital in Egypt’s Alexandria province, state-owned Al Ahram newspaper reported. The injured were mainly suff ering from burns and smoke inhalation, Deputy Health Minister Magdy Hegazy told the paper. Ten fire trucks were used to extinguish the blaze that broke out inside the radiology department at Al-Shorouk hospital, located in the Glim neighourhood of Alexandria province. Some 20 ambulances rushed the victims to nearby medical facilities, Al Ahram reported. The local head of the Civil Protection Force, Brigadier Omar Gaballah, said the cause of the fire was still unknown.

An Egyptian cartoonist known for mocking President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been released after he was detained for running a website without permission, his lawyer and the prosecution service said yesterday. Islam Gawish was arrested on Sunday, in a move that raised fresh alarm over freedom of expression in Egypt. “He has been released after interrogation,” his lawyer Ahmed Abdel Raham told AFP. The prosecution service confirmed that Gawish had been freed without any charges. Gawish was arrested at work, the off ice of a local information website that operates without the required legal permits, the interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

UN envoy Martin Kobler yesterday urged the speedy formation of a Libyan national unity government and said it should be installed in the capital Tripoli, Algerian state media reported. Kobler said the turmoil wracking Libya had created a “political and military vacuum” and helped the spread of the Islamic State group, the APS news agency said. “We must advance on the political process by installing a government in Tripoli,” it quoted Kobler as saying after talks in Algiers with the minister in charge of Maghreb aff airs, Abdelkader Messahel. Delaying the formation of a government plays into the hands of IS, Kobler warned. Messahel, also quoted by APS, agreed with his assessment.

South Sudan government troops killed some 50 people by stuff ing them into a shipping container in baking heat, ceasefire monitors have said in a report noting the latest atrocities in two years of war. The report, by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), was submitted to the African Union (AU) summit and made public late Sunday. The atrocity in Unity state was one of several listed as examples of ceasefire violations carried out by forces on both sides. “About 50 people suff ocated in a container on about 22 October. The investigation was protracted. Attribution of responsibility: Government Forces,” the report read.

Dubai cop jailed overMessi passport video

Four killed, 27 injured in Egypt hospital fire

Detained cartoonist who mocks Sisi freed

New Libya govt must beTripoli-based: UN envoy

S Sudan troops suff ocated 50 in container: monitors

SENTENCE ACCIDENTRIGHTS POLITICS UNREST

AFRICA

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 20168

Donors pledge $250mn to Boko Haram confl ictAgenciesAddis Ababa

Donors at the African Union summit yesterday pledged $250mn for the fi ght against

Boko Haram insurgents, AU Peace and Security Council chief Smail Chergui said.

Boko Haram, facing the heat of a military onslaught in Nigeria, has in the past year stepped up cross-bor-der attacks in Niger, Chad and Cam-eroon, while continuing shooting and suicide assaults on markets, mosques and other mostly civilian targets within Nigeria itself.

Despite off ensives by the regional force with troops from Benin, Cam-eroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, the Islamist jihadists maintain strongholds in areas that are diffi cult to access.

But Chergui praised the success of the force at the close of an AU summit on Sunday, saying territory had been wrested back.

“Great results have been achieved and we must consolidate these gains,” he said.

Chergui said $110mn came from Nigeria, with the European Union off ering 50mn euros, as well as dona-tions from Britain and Switzerland.

Chad’s President Idriss Deby, the African Union chairman, said it was crucial the money pledged was actu-ally paid to show “our fi rm commit-ment in the fi ght against terrorism.”

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoff rey Onyeama said gains had been made but much more needed to be done.

“Boko Haram is no longer able to operate freely as in the past or control territories as they did,” he said.

“We are making tremendous progress in this battle, but we still need to remain vigilant, we need to share information and cooperate.”

Meanwhile, Borno State health commissioner Haruna Mshelia yes-terday revised the death toll from the weekend attack to 85.

Hesaid 75 bodies were brought into the hospitals, while 10 others had been buried on Sunday.

He gave the new toll while briefi ng the state deputy governor and a mili-tary commander on Saturday’s attack in Dalori, some 12km from Maidugu-ri, the state capital.

Local residents and an unidentifi ed aid worker had said on Sunday that some 50 people were killed in the at-tack.

“A total of 65 bodies were depos-ited at the specialist hospital, 10 oth-ers are being deposited at UMTH (an-other hospital), while another 10 were buried yesterday evening at the Dalori community cemetery” Mshelia said.

He said 16 villagers were unac-counted for.

An eyewitness Bulama Malum said he saw more than 20 bodies burnt be-yond recognition and that 15 villagers were missing.

A member of the civilian joint task

force, assisting the military in the fi ght against Boko Haram said more than 100 were killed in the incident, the latest to hit the restive region.

“Even as at last night the people that died were over 100. I am sure many could have died today,” vigi-

lante Musa Adamu told AFP. “Anybody that tells you that the

fi gure is less than 100 is just not say-ing the truth,” he said.

Saturday’s attack occurred near a camp for people displaced by the sev-en-year Boko Haram violence.

It also came as thousands of inter-nally-displaced people were return-ing to camps.

The Borno State government has said it was planning to return some 50,000 displaced people to their home towns in the coming days.

A woman mourns the death of her husband after Boko Haram attacks at Dalori village on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

France aided Ouattara to take ‘power by force’ AFPThe Hague

Defence lawyers for fallen Ivorian leader Laurent Gbagbo yesterday accused his bitter rival President

Alassane Ouattara of seizing power by force aided by former colonial ruler France after disputed 2010 elections.

In an opening statement on the third day of Gbagbo’s landmark trial on charges of crimes against humanity, defence lawyer Emmanuel Altit sought to unmask what he called a deliberate “smear campaign” against his client.

“Ouattara and his supporters wanted to seize power by force and the battle of Abid-jan was, simply put, the very implementa-tion of this strategy,” defence lawyer Em-manuel Altit told the International Criminal Court (ICC). Gbagbo and his co-accused Charles Ble Goude, a fi rebrand militia leader, have denied four charges of crimes against humanity after 3,000 people were killed following a disputed Ivory Coast vote.

“France did not want peace to be negoti-ated,” Altit said.

Then French president Nicolas Sarkozy “had shown unwavering support for his friend Ouattara,” defence lawyer Jennifer Naouri told the court.

Gbagbo became the fi rst ex-head of state to go on trial at the ICC and chief prosecu-tor Fatou Bensouda painted a vivid picture of the turmoil saying “the Ivory Coast de-scended into chaos and was the theatre of unspeakable violence.”

She alleged last week that Gbagbo, aided by the military, police and a youth militia group organised by Ble Goude, had clung to power by “all means necessary”.

But Altit countered yesterday that there had been a deliberate campaign to make Gbagbo “out to be some of kind demon” and “paint Ouattara as the good guy.”

“This is nothing more than a political narrative that has been heated up and re-served.”

Gbagbo lawyer Agathe Bahi Baroan added that Gbagbo was “not a despot.”

“All his life he fought to defend democ-racy in the Ivory Coast,” she said.

“Perhaps someone wants us to forget” alleged abuses committed by pro-Ouattara forces, Altit said, adding that even before the elections Ouattara had been recruiting mercenaries in neighbouring Burkina Faso, where preparations for the assault on Abid-jan were made.

Scientists celebrate as lions rediscovered at remote Ethiopia park AFPAddis Ababa

Conservationists yesterday announced the “amazing discovery” of a previously unknown lion population in a remote

northwestern region of Ethiopia, confi rming local reports with camera trap photographs for the fi rst time. Lions were spotted in the Alatash

National Park on Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, lion conservation group Born Free said.

“The confi rmation that lions persist in this area is exciting news,” Born Free Foundation said in a statement. “With lion numbers in steep decline across most of the African conti-nent, the discovery of previously unconfi rmed populations is hugely important.”

Hans Bauer, a lion conservationist from Ox-ford University who led the tracking expedi-

tion in Ethiopia, said there could be up to 200 lions in the area. “Considering the relative ease with which lion signs were observed, it is likely that they are resident throughout Alatash and Dinder,” in Sudan, he said. “On a total surface area of about 10,000sq km, this would mean a population of 100-200 lions for the entire eco-system, of which 27-54 would be in Alatash.”

Lions have been put on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “red list” of threat-

ened species. In the past few decades they have disappeared from much of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s famous black-maned lions once represented a former emperor, ‘Lion of Judah’ Haile Selassie, and were immortalised in a song by reggae legend Bob Marley. Today, they strug-gle for survival. Lion numbers are estimated to have declined by between as much as three-quarters since 1980, and occupy less than a tenth of its historic range across Africa.

Turning a fi shing scourge into resource By Delphine Bousquet, AFPSô-Ava, Benin

A dug-out canoe speeds along the water then slows down sudden-ly before stopping altogether –

blocking its path are water hyacinths as far as the eye can see.

It has become a common occurrence in the last 20 years on Lake Nokoué in the south of Benin, which is fed by the fresh waters of the Sô river and feeds into the Atlantic Ocean.

The aquatic plant, which is native to the Amazon basin in South America, was introduced to east Africa at the end of the 19th century and is now found across the continent.

On Lake Nokoué, as elsewhere around Africa, the proliferation of water hya-cinths disrupts fi shing, the transporta-tion of goods and people, and contrib-utes to the spread of malaria.

“Water hyacinths are a paradox,” said Fohla Mouftaou, a Belgian-Beni-nese paediatrician who runs the fi rm Green Keeper Africa (GKA).

“In enough quantities they fi lter wa-ter and are a carbon sink. But too much of them and they begin decomposing and letting off greenhouse gases.

“By doing something that allows the balance to be restored you only keep the benefi ts.”

Restoring the balance and using the surplus of water hyacinths in an eco-nomically viable and sustainable way is what Mouftaou and two associates have been doing for the last two years.

A bio-refi nery set up on a peninsula near the lakeside village of Sô-Ava is the centre of the company’s opera-tions.

Sô-Ava gives its name to a munici-pality incorporating several villages on stilts, which is home to some 100,000 people, most of them fi shermen.

On the ground is a carpet of dried water hyacinths. Under a long roof, more plants are piled up in a com-poster.

“We currently have seven tonnes,” said David Gnonlonfoun, a French-Beninese public works specialist who has lived in Benin for the last 15 years.

“We started work in March and in 2015, we harvested 500 tonnes.”

In a warehouse, four workers trans-form the raw material with the help of a home-made crusher, without adding chemicals.

The dried plant is turned into or-ganic fertilisers, animal feed and a fi bre that absorbs oils and hydrocarbons, making it an eff ective tool in the clean-up of industrial sites.

The company has set up a partner-ship with a Mexican fi rm, Tema, which it has developed and successfully commercialised the fi bre. Pemex, the state-run Mexican oil fi rm, is among its users.

About a dozen women from Sô-Ava are responsible for collecting wa-ter hyacinths and drying them on the banks of Lake Nokoué. The jute sacks they fi ll and deliver earn them 200 CFA francs ($0.32) for 10kg.

“In our language we call the hya-cinth ‘tôgblé’, which means the land is ruined. Now we say ‘tognon’, the land is good,” joked one local woman, Rosa-line Adanhou.

From the window of his offi ce, the deputy mayor of Sô-Ava watches the women work.

“It’s as if we’ve found our saviour,” said André Todje. “The hyacinth was a scourge, now it’s a resource.”

Mouftaou said it took some eff ort at fi rst to convince the local people that Green Keeper Africa wasn’t a non-

governmental association but a full-fl edged business.

Three associates stumped up 3mn CFA francs to get the fi rm off the ground and it has since received tech-nical and fi nancial support of a Fair Trade fi nancier SENS-Benin. It sells the absorbant fi bre for 12,000 CFA francs per 10kg.

“We’re interested to see this here in Benin,” said the head of one oil fi rm, who asked to remain anonymous. “We use it for leaks and when lorries are loaded. It’s very eff ective.”

In powder form, hyacinths can ab-sorb oil spills, which potentially makes tiny Benin’s neighbour Nigeria - Af-rica’s number one oil producer - a key market for development.

Other uses not yet exploited include using the fi bre for sanitary towels, which are either not readily avail-able or too expensive for many African women.

For Gnonlonfoun, the business means the lake’s waters can be cleaned and a useful product recovered.

The company is currently in talks with a cement producer to use used fi -bre from oil spills as fuel for its ovens. “It’s come full circle,” he said.

Biorefinery worker Folha Mouftaou holds hyacinths collected from the water at So-Ava in Benin.

AMERICAS9Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

FBI holds talks with Oregon’s militia holdouts ReutersBurns, Oregon

The FBI negotiated with four armed occupants at a remote federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday while the holdouts in a video posted online expressed

their mistrust of the government and reluctance to leave.One of the four protesters remaining at the Malheur Na-

tional Wildlife Refuge said in a darkly lit video posted on Fri-day that he wanted to be assured he would not be arrested if he left. Others with him expressed similar sentiments.

Tensions in the standoff remained high four days af-ter Robert LaVoy Finicum, 54, a spokesman for the group that seized buildings at the refuge on January 2, was killed by police during the arrests of occupation leader Ammon Bundy and several other protesters as they travelled on a highway.

Supporters staged a rally in the nearby ranching commu-nity of Burns on Saturday night. About 30 pick-up trucks and other vehicles honked horns and waved fl ags - US, Con-federate and Gadsden - as they drove. Passing the court-house, protesters yelled “murderer” and “FBI go home”.

B J Soper, a founding member of the Pacifi c Patriots Net-work, said: “It came from the locals, who asked up to help out and organise this driving rally and show support for the community.”

But mayor Craig LaFollette said the protesters were most-ly outsiders who had disrupted the community, adding: “We don’t want them here.”

Soper countered that rally footage showed “about 70% of the vehicles were actually locals”.

The FBI said Finicum reached for a gun during the con-frontation, which was recorded on grainy video. His family disputes that.

In taking over the refuge, protesters criticised federal control of vast tracts of land in a fl are-up of the so-called

Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old confl ict over federal control of millions of acres in the West.

“Negotiations are ongoing,” FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said, declining to give details on the talks or comment on the video.

Bundy has issued messages through his attorney urging those remaining at the refuge to stand down and saying they would continue to fi ght through the courts.

But the holdouts in the video, streamed live on YouTube, said they did not want to leave the site, 48km from Burns in the state’s rural southeast, and expressed mistrust of the US government.

“I don’t believe that they have any authority over me be-cause they’re illegal and I can’t bow down to that,” said one.

Harney County sheriff Dave Ward earlier this week said the protesters went too far in their armed occupation.

Harney County residents gather to protest the FBI’s presence at the Burns Municipal Airport.

A memorial for Robert LaVoy Finicum where he was shot and killed by law enforcement officers.

Historic deal to protectCanada rainforestReutersVancouver

British Columbia is set to an-nounce an historic agreement to protect a massive swath of

rainforest along its coastline, having reached a deal that marries the inter-ests of First Nations, the logging in-dustry and environmentalists after a decade of often-tense negotiations.

The agreement will see roughly 85% of forest within the Great Bear Rain-forest protected, with the other 15% available for logging under the “most stringent” standards in North Amer-ica, environmental groups involved in the talks said.

The Great Bear Rainforest is one of the world’s largest temperate rainfor-ests and the habitat of the Spirit Bear, a rare subspecies of the black bear with white fur and claws. It is also home to 26 Aboriginal groups, known as First Nations.

“Under this landmark agreement, more old and second growth forest will be protected, while still ensuring op-portunities for economic development

and jobs for local First Nations,” said Premier Christy Clark in a statement.

The province will introduce new laws to support the measures later this year.

The Great Bear rainforest, which in-cludes forests, waterways and moun-tains, covers 6.4mn hectares of the province’s coast. More than half its surface is forest, including 2.3mn hec-tares of old-growth forest, which store high levels of captured carbon.

In the 1990s, frustrated over what they saw as destructive forestry prac-tices on their traditional lands, First Nations partnered with environmen-talists to fi ght back against logging companies, blockading roads and pro-testing.

By the early 2000s, environmental groups and industry players, including Interfor Corp, Western Forest Products Inc and Catalyst Paper Corp, had start-ed talks. At the same time, government began negotiating with the Coastal First Nations and Nanwakolas Council.

The fi nal agreements, reached more than a decade later, will “help mitigate climate change, support improved community well-being, and provide

economic certainty to the forestry sector”, environmental groups that en-gaged in the process said.

The deal will also see the end of the commercial grizzly bear hunt with-in Coastal First Nations territories, though other existing tourism-related businesses will not be impacted.

“This full implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest agreements is one of the most visionary forest con-servation plans on earth,” said Valerie Langer, ForestEthics Solutions Direc-tor, in a statement.

“It is a principled approach that sets a new legal and science-based stand-ard for sustaining healthy forests.”

The announcement will come nearly two years after a landmark Supreme Court decision that granted title to a vast swath of British Columbia’s in-terior to First Nations, who had gone to court to stop logging in their tradi-tional lands.

The Tsilhqot’in Decision, named for the bands involved, has bolstered First Nations across the province, who now have a legal precedence for fi ghting development on their traditional ter-ritories.

Two Virginia Tech students in court over murder of 13-year-old girl ReutersChristiansburg, Virginia

Two Virginia Tech students charged in the abduction and murder of a 13-year-old girl and

dumping her body in North Carolina did not enter a plea when they appeared in court yesterday. Police have not said how Nicole Lovell from the college town of Blacksburg, Virginia, died on or about January 27. An arrest warrant said, how-

ever, that a gun was not used to kill her.An autopsy was being performed

Monday and the report was not ex-pected until just before the next court hearing on March 28, the offi ce of the prosecutor said.

David Eisenhauer, 18, a freshman en-gineering student and member of the cross country team at Virginia Tech, has been charged with abduction and mur-der. Lovell’s body was found Saturday about 100 miles from her home.

Another engineering student, Natalie

Keepers, 19, also was arrested over the weekend and is charged with improper disposal of a body and accessory after the fact in the commission of a felony.

Both students appeared before a judge yesterday in nearby Christians-burg, Virginia. Eisenhauer was ap-pointed a lawyer and would remain in jail without bond, a court clerk said. Keepers, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, appeared to cry softly as a judge read her charges. She said she had retained a lawyer.

Former Trump staff er files plaint: NYT A 26-year-old former campaign staff er for Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has accused the campaign of sex discrimination, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Elizabeth Mae Davidson, who worked as an organiser in Iowa for the New York businessman, filed a complaint with the Davenport, Iowa, civil rights commission, claiming female staff ers were paid less than male staff ers, according to the report.She claimed her requests to plan and speak at Trump’s campaign rallies were ignored while her male peers were allowed to do so, it said. Davidson also claimed that Trump had addressed her and a young female volunteer with a remark that referred to the women’s appearances, saying “you guys could do a lot of damage”, the Times report said. According to the Times, Trump, in an interview on Sunday, denied having made the remark to the two women. He did not address the other two allegations, the Times said, and he said he did not remember Davidson but had been told she had done “a terrible job” while working on the campaign. Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said the campaign had not been notified that a complaint had been filed. “These claims from a disgruntled former part-time employee are without merit,” Hicks said.

ASEAN

Gulf TimesTuesday, February 2, 201610

Singapore seizes bank accounts as part of 1MDB probe ReutersSingapore

Singapore has seized a large number of bank ac-counts in recent months

as part of an investigation into possible money-laundering linked to Malaysian state in-vestment fund 1Malaysia De-velopment Berhad (1MDB), authorities said yesterday.

Singapore is co-operating with authorities in Malay-sia, Switzerland and the US who are investigating 1MDB, said the Monetary Author-ity of Singapore (MAS) and the Commercial Aff airs Depart-ment, the city-state’s white-collar crime agency.

“In connection with these investigations, we have sought and are continuing to seek information from several fi -nancial institutions, are inter-viewing various individuals, and have seized a large number of bank accounts,” the two agencies said in a joint state-ment.

The statement did not of-fer any further details. In July, local police said they had only frozen two bank accounts linked to the 1MDB probe.

The statement comes a week after Switzerland’s chief pros-ecutor said a criminal investi-gation into 1MDB had revealed that about $4bn appeared to have been misappropriated from Malaysian state compa-

nies. 1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been investigated by Ma-laysian authorities following accusations of fi nancial mis-management and graft. 1MDB has denied these allegations.

Last week, Malaysia’s at-torney general cleared Na-jib of any criminal off ences or corruption, declaring that $681mn deposited into his personal bank account was a gift from Saudi Arabia’s royal family and no further action needed to be taken.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has been in touch with Malaysian regulators since last year, when Malay-sia’s government said 1MDB had redeemed $1.1bn from the Cayman Islands and placed it in the Singapore unit of Swiss private bank BSI.

BSI has declined to com-ment.

The Wall Street Journal re-ported last year that investiga-tors had traced nearly $700mn from an account at Falcon Private Bank in Singapore to accounts in Malaysia they be-lieved belonged to the prime minister.

Falcon Private Bank, a Swiss private bank owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum In-vestment Company, has said it is in contact with Singapore’s central bank and will co-oper-ate with authorities.

Thailand says 100 held in traffi cking blitz on seafood industry

AFPBangkok

Thai police said yester-day over 100 people have been arrested in

a crackdown on human traf-fi cking since the European Union threatened to boycott the country’s multibillion dollar fi shing industry over the issue.

The EU hit Thailand with a “yellow card” warning last April, threatening to ban all seafood exports unless the military government tackled rampant illegal fi shing and la-bour abuses among its fl eets.

A delegation from Brus-sels visited the kingdom last month to assess progress but did not say when it would reach a decision on the boy-cott, which could cost Thai-land $1bn annually.

Thailand is the world’s third largest exporter of seafood — a status that rights groups say is achieved through over-fi shing and a reliance on low-paid traffi cked workers from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia.

It is desperate to avoid any costly sanctions on the fi shing sector.

Police insist they have ramped up eff orts to straight-en out the industry.

Since the EU “yellow card” more than 100 people have been arrested over labour abuses and traffi cking and around 130 freed from vessels and factories, according to police fi gures.

“These cases show that Thailand has a strong politi-cal will to deal with the issue of human traffi cking,” deputy national police spokesman Colonol Krisana Pattanacha-roen told reporters.

Rights groups accuse Thai offi cials of allowing people-traffi cking to fl ourish in ex-change for hefty bribes.

Traffi cking survivors freed from Thai fi shing fl eets have told grim tales of horrendous working conditions, beatings and even killings at sea.

The Environmental Justice Foundation, a British NGO that has worked with the Thai government to address its fi shing woes, says there have been positive changes in fi sh-ing legislation.

But concerns remain that police mainly target low-level smugglers.

“A very simple bench-mark for real progress will be when you start seeing senior Thai fi gures in courts going through a process of a suc-cessful prosecution for their role,” the foundation’s execu-tive director Steven Trent said.

New era dawns as Suu Kyi’s party strides into parliament AFPNaypyidaw

Myanmar entered a new political era yesterday as Aung San Suu Kyi’s

pro-democracy MPs took their seats in parliament, bearing the hopes of a nation subjugated for decades by the military.

Wearing pastel orange uni-forms, lawmakers from the Na-tional League for Democracy (NLD) arrived for their fi rst day of work in the capital Naypyi-daw, buoyed by a massive popu-lar mandate from November’s election.

That poll saw the NLD wrest a majority from the army estab-lishment and has spurred hopes of a new political dawn in the long-repressed nation.

Suu Kyi, the centrepiece of Myanmar’s struggle for democ-racy, entered the cavernous par-liament building without com-ment.

She took a seat alone for the short opening session which saw the lawmakers sworn in and the appointment of a close ally, Win Myint, as lower house speaker.

“Today is a day to be proud of in Myanmar’s political history and for the democratic transi-tion,” Win Myint said in an ac-ceptance speech.

The new government faces a daunting rebuilding task in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries, whose economy was crushed by almost half a century of junta rule.

Many NLD MPs are also po-litical novices, unskilled in the business of government.

They must swiftly adapt to a diffi cult decision-making proc-ess in a legislature where un-elected soldiers occupy 25% of all seats.

“It’s a historic moment for the country,” said Myanmar political analyst Khin Zaw Win.

The country will now choose a new president to succeed President Thein Sein, the former general who in 2011 launched dramatic political and economic reforms which culminated in

the election. Suu Kyi herself is barred from the post by a mili-tary-scripted constitution be-cause she married and had chil-dren with a foreigner.

The 70-year-old has vowed to sidestep this hurdle by ruling “above” a proxy president, al-though she has yet to reveal her choice for the role.

While there is no clear sched-ule for the selection of candi-dates, it could be within days.

Elected members of both houses and the military will nominate three candidates to re-place Thein Sein, who retains his post until the end of March.

The new president will then be chosen by a vote of the com-bined houses.

Observers are closely watching Suu Kyi’s relationship with the still-powerful military, which holds key ministries as well as the 25% parliamentary bloc. Suu Kyi may try to persuade the army to help her change the charter clause that blocks her path to power, analysts say, although it has so far baulked at any attempt to redraft it.

After decades under the mili-tary yoke, Myanmar’s people

queued in their thousands to cast ballots for Suu Kyi and her party last November, throwing their support behind her simple campaign message of “change”.

With a resounding parliamen-tary majority, her lawmakers are — at least initially — expected to act as a rubber-stamp for her government. While the NLD majority will need to time to fi nd their feet, the military has had plenty of time to prepare for the handover.

A quasi-civilian government has steered reforms since out-right army rule ended in 2011.

The military has appointed “more senior and experienced, and probably better prepared” soldiers to parliament, accord-ing to Renaud Egreteau, an ana-lyst who has studied Myanmar’s legislature.

Thein Sein has led the opening up of the long-isolated country, spurring international invest-ment with sweeping political reforms. But Myanmar remains blighted by civil wars and ethnic and religious divisions. Poverty rates are high and the bureauc-racy is poorly funded and riven with corruption.

Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi leaves after the new lower house parliamentary session in Naypyidaw yesterday.

Myanmar’s members of parliament attend the new lower house parliamentary session in Naypyidaw.

General election will be held in 2017 : PrayuthReutersBangkok

Thailand’s Prime Minis-ter Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday that a

general election will take place in 2017, amid criticism that a draft constitution unveiled last week would delay the poll.

A draft constitution released on Friday has been pilloried by all major political parties, rais-ing fears it will be rejected in a July referendum, delaying a re-turn to democracy.

“ T h e year 2017, 2017, 2017,” a visibly i r r i t a t e d P r a y u t h told re-porters in response to a question

about when an election will be held.

Last week, Prayuth said Thailand will hold an elec-tion in 2017 even if the draft constitution does not pass the referendum.

Prayuth: assurance

AUSTRALASIA/EAST ASIA11Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

China sets up ‘battle zones’ as part of plan to reform PLAReutersBeijing

China yesterday inaugurated the military’s fi ve new “battle zones”, the defence ministry said, the latest step in President Xi Jinping’s eff orts to reform the

country’s armed forces.Xi’s push to reform the military coincides with China be-

coming more assertive in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, and as its navy invests in submarines and aircraft carriers and its air force develops stealth fi ght-ers.

The reforms include establishing a joint operational com-mand structure by 2020 and rejigging existing military re-gions, as well as cutting troop numbers by 300,000, a sur-prise announcement he made in September.

Late last year, Xi, the ruling communist party chief and also chairman of the Central Military Commission which runs the military, inaugurated a general command unit for the people’s liberation army (PLA), a missile force and a strategic support force.

Weeks later, he split the PLA’s four military headquarters into 15 new units - covering everything from logistics to equipment development, political work and fi ghting cor-ruption.

Yesterday’s move, which had been fl agged in advance by state media, reclassifi ed seven military regions into fi ve - the East, West, South, North and Middle battle zones.

They will constitute what the defence ministry said in an online statement was each zone’s “highest-level joint com-bat command structure”.

Xi said the new zones shoulder the responsibility of re-sponding to their respective “security threats, upholding peace and constraining confl ict”.

“All battle zones must unwaveringly listen to the party’s direction, insist upon the party’s absolute leadership,” Xi said. State media showed Xi handing fl ags to the zone’s new commanders.

Defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a sepa-rate statement posted online that China would maintain its “defensive national defence policy” and that the country’s development and foreign policy would be unchanged.

China has been moving rapidly to upgrade its military hardware, but integration of complex systems across a regionalised command structure has been a major chal-lenge.

The troop cuts and broader reforms have proven contro-versial, though, and the military’s newspaper has published

a series of commentaries warning of opposition to the re-forms and concern about job losses.

Xi has also made rooting out deeply entrenched corrup-tion in the military a top priority.

China yesterday condemned as “dangerous and irrespon-sible” the weekend transit of a US warship within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea.

Tensions have mounted in the Sea over Beijing’s con-struction of artifi cial islands.

The Pentagon said the guided missile destroyer USS Cur-tis Wilbur made the “innocent passage” Saturday off Triton Island in the Paracel island chain, which is claimed by Chi-na, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The US action was “highly dangerous and irresponsible”, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regu-lar press briefi ng, adding it “gravely harmed the peace and stability of the relevant region” in the pursuit of “American naval hegemony”.

A commentary by the offi cial Xinhua news service said the sail-by “violated both Chinese and international law”.

“It is advisable for Washington to contribute more to re-gional peace and cooperation, rather than making waves in the South China Sea and then pointing a fi nger at others on trumped-up charges,” it said.

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have rival claims.

Beijing has asserted its claims by rapidly building artifi cial islands in another South China Sea island chain, the Sprat-lys, raising tensions in the region.

Port facilities, airstrips and military buildings have gone up on the man-made islands, prompting US warnings that it would assert its rights to “fl y, sail and operate wherever in-ternational law allows”.

While the United States takes no position on the various claims to the islands, it does not recognise any claimant’s right to territorial waters.

In October the US Navy sent a guided missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of one of the Spratlys to press home the point.

The US has said that China’s construction has led to mili-tarisation of the region, and threatens free access to its wa-ters and airspace.

China denies the claims, saying the facilities are mainly for civilian and defensive purposes.

“The US fl exing of military muscle under the banner of ‘freedom of navigation’, its manufacturing of tensions, these are precisely the greatest causes currently pushing forward militarisation in the South China Sea”, Lu said.

17 kangaroos mowed down in Australia An unknown driver deliberately ran over and killed 17 kangaroos on an Australian highway, off icials said yesterday.“It appears to have happened last night on a long stretch of road. Sixteen were found dead and we had to euthanise one,” said Michael Beatty, spokesman for the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in Queensland.It took place between on Grindle Road on the outskirts of Brisbane, the capital of the north-eastern state of Queensland.“The kangaroos were found within 150 yards of each other. They were mauled in a bad way. There was a big buck as well, but most were young roos,” Beatty told dpa over the phone.“What happens is the kangaroos usually come to the side of the road at night. There are a lot of them in this area, but this driver definitely ran down the kangaroos deliberately. It was no accident.”“We are investigating the incident and have asked public for any information,” Beatty said. Last October, police charged an 18-year-old Australian man for killing more than 100 grey kangaroos by running them down in his vehicle in New South Wales.

Sydney schools evacuated Several high schools in Sydney were evacuated yesterday after threats were made, for the second time in three days, off icials said.Nine schools were evacuated or placed under lockdown, local media reported.“Each school is taking precautionary measures to ensure the safety of its students and no students are in danger,” the New South Wales department of education said.“Police are attending at each location as a precaution.” The Daily Telegraph reported that the threats were similar to those made against schools last week.Scores of schools went into lockdown for several hours in two states of Australia on Friday morning, the first day of the new school year in many parts of the country.Off icials said computerised bomb threats were being made via phones to the school receptions. None of them turned out to be true.

Fourth Japanese heldby Beijing ‘for spying’AFPTokyo

Japan yesterday denied that it carries out espionage activities abroad as it announced that Chinese authorities

have formally arrested a fourth Japa-nese citizen on suspicion of spying.

China and Japan have been taking steps for more than a year to improve relations that remain plagued by ten-sions over the legacy of World War II as well as a maritime dispute.

Ties, however, remain shaky and the Chinese allegations of spying by Japa-nese nationals have become a new ir-ritant.

The arrests also come as China has

detained people of other nationalities on security-related suspicions.

Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s top govern-ment spokesman, said China informed Japan last month that a fourth Japa-nese had been formally arrested after being detained in Beijing in June.

“Japan does not engage in spying activities in any country,” Suga told reporters.

“The government is preparing to support (those citizens) properly through diplomatic offi ces overseas.”

Few details have been released about the detained Japanese. Suga previously announced that three are men and one is a woman. All were apprehended last year, with news of the formal arrests coming in stages.

The arrests of the Japanese came af-ter China in 2014 detained a Canadian missionary couple for alleged espio-nage.

China said Friday that it has charged one of the Canadians with spying and stealing state secrets.

Last month Swedish activist Peter Dahlin was held on suspicion of en-dangering national security, apparent-ly caught up in a crackdown on human rights lawyers.

He was deported last week.China passed a new “national secu-

rity” law in July that was criticised by rights groups for the vague wording of its references to “security”. This raised fears it could give police wide-ranging discretionary powers over civil society.

Snowfall in Xi’an, Shaanxi province of China.

Frosty weather

21 detained over $7.6bn Ponzi scam AFPBeijing

Chinese authorities have ar-rested 21 people on suspi-cion of defrauding around

900,000 people of more than 50bn yuan ($7.6bn), state media reported, after an online peer-to-peer lender turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme.

Ezubao off ered investors an-nual returns of between 9% and 14.6% on various projects, the of-fi cial Xinhua news agency reported -- far more than currently off ered by Chinese banks’ wealth manage-ment products.

The platform, launched in July 2014, had amassed more than 50bn yuan by December, said the report late Sunday, citing police as es-timating 900,000 investors had fallen victim to the scam.

Investors were despondent yes-terday, with one asking on China’s Twitter-like Weibo: “Does our money just evaporate like that?”

But few comments were visible, leading to suspicions of censorship in a country where authorities im-pose strict controls to avoid social unrest.

Illegal fund-raising is widespread in China and often involves a large number of investors who have few investment options because of low bank interest rates, an extremely speculative stock market and un-certainties in the property sector.

Last October a payment crisis at state-managed Fanya Metals Ex-

change sparked protests in Beijing and Shanghai, with police detain-ing hundreds in the capital.

Ezubao was China’s fourth larg-est Internet P2P lender, Chinese business magazine publisher Caix-in Group said in a previous report.

The company fabricated most of the projects on its website and paid old debts with money from new in-vestors, Xinhua said.

“Ezubao is a typical Ponzi scam,” it quoted Zhang Min, president of its owner Yucheng Group and one of those arrested, as saying while in custody.

Yucheng’s chairman Ding Ning said the company spent more than 800 million yuan buying corporate information to invent the fraudu-lent projects, the report said.

He also splashed out investors’ money on a lavish lifestyle, including giving Zhang a 130mn-yuan villa in Singapore and 500mn yuan in cash.

State media regularly carry pur-ported confessions by detainees, a practice strongly condemned by overseas advocacy groups as vio-lating the right to a fair trial.

Police said that of the 207 com-panies to whom Ezubao claimed to have lent money, only one had ac-tually borrowed from it.

“As far as I know, 95% of the projects on Ezubao were fake,” it quoted Yong Lei, a risk controller at a Yucheng subsidiary, as saying.

Police raided the company, based in the eastern province of Anhui, after discovering that its execu-tives were transferring funds and planning to fl ee, Xinhua added.

BRITAIN/IRELAND

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 201612

New inquest into soldier’sdeath at barracks to open AgenciesLondon

A long-awaited fresh inquest is due to begin into the death of a young soldier at a controversial

army barracks more than 20 years ago.Private Cheryl James, 18, was dis-

covered with a fatal gunshot wound at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey in 1995 - one of four recruits to die there over a seven-year period.

New evidence emerged last month which suggested James may have been sexually exploited by senior ranks shortly before her death.

At least 10 witnesses have now come forward with allegations of a culture of sexual exploitation at Deepcut, accord-

ing to human rights organisation Lib-erty, which is representing the family.

Speaking ahead of the start of the inquest, Des James said he hoped for “justice” for his daughter and the other young soldiers who died at Deepcut. He said: “We know the culture at the camp was out of control. There was a drug and alcohol culture. The bottom line is a culture was created at the camp which contributed to the death of four people.

“The Deepcut situation is the tip of the iceberg. We have to get to the bot-tom of what happened. I want justice for all four of them.

“Twenty years after we lost Cher-yl, and following numerous attempts by successive governments to assign the scandal of Deepcut to history, the answers to our many questions may

finally be within reach.”The family’s barrister, Alison Fos-

ter QC, told a pre-inquest hearing last month that they had material suggest-ing James “may have been sexually coerced or raped the night before, or before the time of her death”.

There was also a “direct allegation” that the teenage soldier might have been or-dered to sleep with a person “by someone superior in rank to her”, Foster added.

James, from Llangollen in North Wales, was undergoing initial training when she was found dead with a bullet wound between her right eye and the bridge of her nose in November 1995.

Privates Sean Benton, James Col-linson and Geoff Gray also died from gunshot wounds at Deepcut between 1995 and 2002.

Google dealnot a gloriousmoment, saysminister Business secretary Sajid Javid says he shared Britons’ sense of injustice as criticism grows of agreement with tech firm

Guardian News and MediaLondon

A senior government min-ister has admitted the tax settlement between

Google and the UK government “was not a glorious moment”.

The admission by the Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, came as a senior executive from Google claimed he could not say how much UK profi t has been gener-ated by the technology fi rm in the past decade, or how many meetings had been held between the company’s executives and ministers.

It follows the announcement 10 days ago that the govern-ment came to an agreement with Google in which £130mn will be paid in back taxes covering the past decade.

There has been growing criti-cisms of the fi rm and the govern-ment over the deal, which was negotiated between HMRC offi -cials and Google.

George Osborne, the UK chancellor, initially labelled the agreement a “major success”, but Javid told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that he shared the feeling of many people that there was a sense of “injustice” with the deal.

“It wasn’t a glorious moment, when people look at these issues, but it is important, I think, to talk about also what the government is doing,” he said.

Javid was asked if he agreed it was unfair that a large corpo-ration like Google could speak directly to the government and HMRC about its tax aff airs while small- and medium-sized busi-nesses don’t have that option available to them.

“I speak with thousands of companies, small- and medium-sized as well as of course large companies, and there is a sense of injustice with what they see,” he said.

“They do look at this and they say, ‘look, I don’t operate all these multiple jurisdictions around the world, I can’t shift profi ts around, what about me,

where’s the level playing fi eld?’ and I share that sense and the sort of sense of unfairness that exists.”

Peter Barron, the head of com-munications at Google across Europe, told the Andrew Marr Show he could not answer ques-tions about Google’s profi ts over the past decade despite re-ports that it had made £7.2bn and therefore is paying less than 3% in corporation tax on its UK profi ts.

He said the fi rm pays corpo-ration tax of 20% and claimed there had been no “sweetheart deal”.

“We have a settlement with HMRC, the government sets the law, HMRC enforces it and we follow it. The £130mn was an additional tax. For the last 18 months we paid £42.6mn.

“It (the UK) is our second biggest global market but iden-tifying the added value in the UK is a difficult business,” Bar-ron said.

Asked why Google paid its taxes in Ireland, which has significantly lower corpora-tion tax, he said that most ad-vertising deals were closed in Ireland.

“Corporation tax is not on sales or revenues, it is on profi t. Identifying what the profi t has been over the last 10 years is quite a business,” he said.

The UK is Google’s largest non-US market, accounting for 11% of its global revenues, ac-cording to documents fi led in America.

The Observer revealed that the government has been pri-vately lobbying the EU to re-move Bermuda from an official blacklist.

Barron said the arrange-ment in Bermuda had no im-pact on the amount of tax it pays in the UK. “It’s very, very important to make it clear that the Bermuda arrangement has absolutely no bearing on the amount of tax that we pay in the UK. No bearing whatso-ever,” he said.

When asked how much of the £30bn may have come from the UK, he said: “I don’t know the answer, I haven’t got the an-swer (at) my fingertips, except I would say that about 10% of global revenues come from the UK.”

Woman gets six years forjoining IS group in Syria AFPLondon

A mother who took her tod-dler to Syria and joined the Islamic State (IS)

group was sentenced to six years in prison yesterday after becom-ing the fi rst British woman to be convicted after returning home.

Tareena Shakil, 26, was found guilty by a court in Bir-mingham of IS membership and encouraging terrorism in posts on Twitter before leaving Britain.

“You were well aware that the future which you had subjected your son to was very likely to be indoctrination and thereafter life as a terrorist fi ghter,” judge Melbourne Inman said.

Shakil, who was convicted on Friday, maintained she took her

son to Syria, in October 2014, to escape an “unhappy family life”.

She said had been groomed by Isis recruiters who had targeted her when she was low because of the breakup of her marriage in the UK. She said her every

move had been monitored by Isis minders and she had no choice but to send the messages and pictures supportive of the group.

The court heard that Shakil in October 2014 told her family she

was going to Turkey for a beach holiday.

Instead, she crossed the bor-der into Syria and went to IS stronghold Raqa.

She wrote a message to a rela-tive stating “I’m not coming back.”

In Raqa, she was kept in a large house with other single women and posed with her son for a selfi e while wearing a black balaclava branded with the IS symbol.

Other pictures found on her phone showed her posing with an AK-47 assault rifl e and a handgun.

However, Shakil found life under IS rules too strict.

In January 2015, after repeat-edly looking up “I want to leave ISIS” on the Internet, she and her son travelled by road to the Turkish border.

They ran 1km to escape into Turkey, dodging a three-man IS patrol before handing them-selves in to the Turkish military, she told the court.

She was arrested when po-lice boarded her fl ight home at London’s Heathrow Airport last February.

Sentencing her to four years for IS membership, and two years, to run consecutively, for encouraging acts of terror, Jus-tice Inman said she would be en-titled to release on licence after serving half her sentence.

As she was jailed, members of Shakil’s family shouted that the hearing was a farce.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, children’s charity the NSPCC said: “This is a deeply disturbing case which could have resulted in tragedy for the toddler involved.”

People attend a Sinn Fein rally to save Moore Street in Dublin, Ireland. Sinn Fein are objecting to a planned shopping centre being built at the historic site which was one of the last holdout locations of the 1916 rising.

Save Moore Street rally

Tareena Shakil: claimed she went to Syria to escape “unhappy family life”.

Growing cost of grid, green fees blocks power price cut ReutersLondon

Households will not ben-efi t from a fall in market electricity prices because

their suppliers are facing rising costs elsewhere, such as green energy subsidies, which they say cancel out any wholesale price falls.

Electricity and gas prices trad-ed on the open market have fallen 20%-35% in recent months as milder-than-normal weather

has curbed demand and falling commodity prices have added even more downward pressure.

Two of Britain’s ‘Big Six’ ener-gy suppliers, E.ON and SSE, have so far announced price cuts of around 5% to household gas tar-iff s, but reductions to electricity prices are notably absent.

“Many of the other costs that make up an electricity bill and that we don’t control have in-creased or may increase,” said a spokeswoman for E.ON UK, whose gas prices will fell 5.1% from yesterday.

“These include electricity net-work costs - transmission and distribution - as well as environ-mental levies, such as the renew-able obligation and FiTs (feed-in-tariff s).”

Cornwall Energy data showed the costs of government policies, which also include discounts for low-income households and pay-ments for energy effi ciency meas-ures, on energy suppliers have risen to the highest level ever.

This means non-energy costs now make up as much as 60% of the average electricity bill, up

from 45% four years ago, accord-ing to Cornwall Energy data.

The main drivers here are the increasing costs to help fi -nance building renewable energy plants, such as solar panels or wind farms.

Suppliers’ cost of the Renew-able Obligation, the outgoing mechanism to distribute green energy subsidies, is £12.86 per megawatt-hour, up from £10.57 a year ago, Cornwall Energy said.

“These utilities are not sell-ing electricity, they’re passing through renewable subsidies,”

said Mark Freshney, utilities eq-uity analyst at Credit Suisse.

The demand for renewable energy subsidies has been much higher than anticipated by the government, which has now im-posed cuts to support for more mature technologies.

Transmission costs are ex-pected to rise this year due to a Europe-wide change in the per-centage of charges allocated to network operators. From April, the National Grid will be able to recover 83.3% of costs from sup-pliers, up from 76.8% in 2015-16.

This means consumers will pay roughly £15 a year more for their electricity bills, according to reg-ulator Ofgem.

These cost pressures do not exist, or are lower, in the gas re-tail market, meaning suppliers can aff ord to pass on wholesale savings.

“You have more benefi t as a consumer when the wholesale gas price goes down because it is a larger component of the fi nal gas bill,” said Roland Vetter, head of research at energy advisory and investment fi rm CF Partners.

Data published last year by en-ergy regulator Ofgem shows how-ever that energy suppliers’ pre-tax profi t margins in the electricity retail market were expected to av-erage 9% between April 2015 and March 2016. This compares with 6% in 2014 and 1% in 2011.

The data was the latest avail-able.

“Energy companies need to put their customers fi rst and with wholesale costs coming down we expect savings to be passed on to them,” a spokeswoman for en-ergy ministry said.

BRITAIN13Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Police banon spa aswomensexuallyassaulted London Evening StandardLondon

A West End spa visited by Made In Chelsea stars has been banned from giving

massages after two women were allegedly sexually assaulted by a masseur.

Chelsea Day Spa, in King’s Road, has had a renewal of its ability to off er massages blocked by councillors after detectives ar-rested a foreign spa worker.

It is alleged the 26-year-old, who the council’s licensing com-mittee heard has been working across the city, assaulted both young women as they received treatment alone on his massage bench.

Councillors heard allegations that one woman was assaulted on September 13 before the sec-ond alleged attack on November 17. The hearing was told the salon had breached rules preventing men from giving women massages and vice-versa without a special waiver.

The man, who had worked there since March, was not reg-istered as a practitioner with the council, it was said.

Scotland Yard offi cer inspector Eddie Armstrong told the panel of three councillors the salon’s own-ers were not “fi t and proper” to run the venue. Although the hear-ing was told the spa’s founder and manager, Faye Fasan, 39, was now complying with the licence condi-tions, her application to continue massage, sports massage and aro-matherapy was blocked.

Committee chairman Charles William, said: “You failed to com-ply with a very important condi-tion of the licence and although it appears some steps have been taken to amend that situation, we are not satisfi ed. We feel we have to exclude certain activities.” He allowed the salon to continue providing body wraps, facials, manicures, pedicures, refl exology and nail extensions, under the ap-plication for renewal of its special treatments licence.

Mayfair cafe plansanger residentsLondon Evening StandardLondon

Chef Ruth Rogers is fac-ing a revolt by Mayfair residents over her plans

to open a sister restaurant to her Michelin-starred River Cafe.

Locals in the quiet street where she hopes to launch her Italian restaurant next year fear it will bring late-night noise and disruption to a “spe-cial enclave” that includes two sheltered housing blocks.

Lady Rogers has said it was “love at fi rst sight” when she saw the location. It will be her fi rst opening since launching the River Cafe in Hammer-smith in 1987 with late busi-ness partner Rose Gray.

But meetings between resi-dents and the Duke of West-minster’s property company Grosvenor failed to settle a dispute over the impact of the restaurant on Grosvenor Hill.

Artists’ impressions of the plans show a large glass struc-ture with an open kitchen on the ground fl oor. A full ap-

plication with Westminster council is expected later this year. There are also concerns about Grosvenor’s plans to convert one of a row of listed garages on nearby Bourdon Street into a retail unit.

A letter from resident Clive Jones to Grosvenor’s Mayfair chief Haydn Cooper said lo-cals “are deeply worried and upset at the negative impact of a large seven-day-a-week restaurant, close to where their bedrooms are, and of developing retail operations.” The letter adds: “It grieves me to say it, but it does seem Grosvenor have not been at all mindful of the fact our residential community...in-cludes a number of disabled and vulnerable people living in our two sheltered housing blocks.”

Cooper said in reply that the meetings and letters “have clearly conveyed to us the weight of local feeling towards the proposals. Our job...is to balance the needs of those living in, working in and visiting this mixed-use estate”.

House prices in suburbssoar as shortage grows London Evening StandardLondon

London’s desperate hous-ing shortage sent property prices surging to an all-

time high last month, with the biggest increases in the suburbs.

The average home’s value shot up by £10,683 between Novem-ber and December — one of the biggest monthly jumps on record — to a fresh peak of £514,097, ac-cording to the latest Land Registry data. The dramatic acceleration after a relatively quiet year for the property market will intensify pressure on the next mayor to get a grip on the city’s deepening hous-ing crisis.

It comes as a leading Conserva-tive local government grandee said London’s population could explode by a further 4mn to 13mn by 2050. A separate report from the London Assembly yesterday says the problem is so acute that the new mayor will have to ask councils in the Home Counties to house the “spillover” from the capital’s rapid population growth.

The 2.1% monthly leap in val-ues was the biggest rise seen since August 2014, while the 12.4% an-nual rate is the fastest since last February. The hottest markets are all on the outer fringes of London, where price rises were more mod-est during the boom years.

The biggest year-on-year in-crease was in Barking and Da-genham, where the average home rose 15.3% in a year to £309,760 — leaving London without a single borough where house prices are below the £300,000 mark.

Other big annual rises were re-corded in outer London boroughs such as Hillingdon (15.2%), Ha-vering (12.4%), Bexley (12.3%) and Croydon (12.2%).

By contrast, increases in expen-sive central areas such as Kensing-ton and Chelsea, Westminster or Hammersmith and Fulham have only risen modestly.

Rob Weaver, director of invest-ments at homes crowdfunding fi rm Property Partner, said: “Buy-ers have been searching outside prime central London for more af-fordable housing, attracted also by regeneration in places like Wool-

wich and of course by Crossrail.”There are concerns the mar-

ket will get another turbo-charge after Monday when George Os-borne’s Help to Buy London scheme is launched.

Stephen Smith, director of Legal & General’s mortgage arm Housing Partnerships, said: “The gulf between supply and demand is continuing to drive up competi-tion, pushing up prices.

“Many fi rst-time-buyers are being pushed out of the market. This lack of housing supply must be addressed before things dete-riorate further.”

Other new London records showed by the Land Registry fi gures include the average cost of a detached house topping £900,000 for the fi rst time.

Separate Property Partner re-search found that the number of homes being built across London is falling short of demand in 27 out of the 32 boroughs.

If building continues at the cur-rent rate, London will be 350,000 homes short of its needs in 10 years’ time and almost 587,000 short by 2036.

Scientistsget nod to edit genesin embryos AgenciesLondon

Scientists in Britain have been given the go-ahead to edit the genes of hu-

man embryos for research, us-ing a technique that some say could eventually be used to cre-ate “designer babies”.

Less than a year after Chinese scientists caused an interna-tional furore by saying they had genetically modifi ed human em-bryos, Kathy Niakan, a stem cell scientist from London’s Francis Crick Institute, was granted a licence by The Human Fertilisa-tion and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to carry out similar ex-periments.

The decision permits Niakan to study the embryos for 14 days for research purposes only. It does not permit them to be im-planted into women. Niakan’s research is aimed at fi nding the genes at play in the early days of human fertilisation.

The decision was hailed by the Francis Crick Institute and British scientists but will be met with disquiet by those concerned that rapid advances in the fi eld of genome editing is precluding proper consideration of the ethi-cal implications.

Paul Nurse, director of the in-stitute, said: “I am delighted that the HFEA has approved Dr Ni-akan’s application. Dr Niakan’s proposed research is important for understanding how a healthy human embryo develops and

will enhance our understanding of IVF success rates, by looking at the very earliest stage of hu-man development - one to seven days.”

The work, using embryos do-nated by couples with a surplus after IVF treatment, will look at the fertilised egg’s development from a single cell to around 250 cells. The basic research could help scientists understand why some women lose their babies before term and provide better clinical treatments for infertil-ity, using conventional medical methods.

Niakan will use a power-ful genome editing procedure called Crispr-Cas9 to switch genes on and off in early stage human embryos. She will then look for the eff ects the modi-fi cations have on the develop-ment of the cells that go on to form the placenta.

Crispr-Cas9 has revolution-ised biomedical research since its invention three years ago. It allows scientists to make precise changes to DNA, and has the potential to transform the treat-ment of genetic disorders by cor-recting faulty genes.

Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, said: “I am delighted for my colleague Kathy Niakan that the HFEA has approved her licence ap-plication. This will allow her to not only continue her re-search on how the early hu-man embryo develops, but al-low her to address the role of

specific genes through the use of CRISPR/Ca9 genome edit-ing methods. The approval of her licence gives the exciting prospect that we will at last begin to understand how the different cell types are speci-fied at these pre-implantation stages in the human embryo.”

Lovell-Badge said that it would also provide invaluable information about the accuracy and effi ciency of the technique, helping to inform the debate about whether genome editing could be used in future to correct faulty genes that cause devastat-ing diseases.

That prospect remains a long way off but is already a subject of concern, raising fears of designer babies. There are also fears that changes to an embryo’s DNA could have unknown harm-ful consequences throughout a person’s body and be passed on down the generations.

Last year, leading UK funders called for a national debate on whether editing human embry-os could ever be justifi ed in the clinic. Some fear that a public backlash could derail less con-troversial uses of genome edit-ing, which could lead to radical new treatments for disease.

The US National Institutes of Health will not fund any genome editing research on human em-bryos at present.

But supporters of the HFEA’s decision said it had arrived at the right conclusion, balancing the benefi ts to research and ethical considerations.

A tour guide points to the graff iti covered exterior of the childhood home of Beatles Drummer Ringo Starr in Liverpool yesterday. Plans are being put before local councillors which would see the house and up to 200 other derelict houses nearby refurbished and saved from demolition.

Waves crash over the lighthouse at Porthcawl, Wales, yesterday. Gale force winds are aff ecting parts of Wales.

Demolition threat

Gale force winds batter Wales

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder by police investigating the disappearance of a 20-year-old woman in Northampton. India Chipchase was last seen in the early hours of Saturday in Bridge Street. Inquiries led off icers to a property in Stanley Road, St James, where the body of a woman was found. Chipchase›s family has been informed of the discovery. A post-mortem examination was to take place shortly. Police said a 51-year-old man had been arrested and was in custody. In a statement on Twitter, on Sunday evening India’s brother Harry said: “I am deeply saddened to confirm that India Eve Chipchase has passed away. Please respect our privacy at this time.”

Motorists and bus passengers were warned they face 18 months of delays as work began yesterday to remove a “relic” of a gyratory system at Archway roundabout. Transport for London is replacing the one-way junction with a two-way road layout that will involve closing the road outside Archway Tube to create a pedestrian link with the Archway Tavern pub and a public space in the centre of the “island”. The changes were backed in a TfL consultation in 2014, though about a third of motorists and 18% of bus and Tube passengers said they would make journeys worse. The £12.8mn project will take until summer next year to complete

A teenage boy has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a man near tennis courts in a west London park. The 16-year-old was arrested on Sunday after Harjit Singh Dulai, 44, was fatally stabbed in Rosedale Park, Hayes, on Wednesday. Five men aged between 19 and 40 have also been arrested. Four were bailed pending further enquiries and one was released with no further action. Police believe Dulai was knifed after arranging to meet a group of people near the park’s bowling green. Detective chief inspector Noel McHugh said: “There are people who will know exactly what happened to Harjit and I would urge them to come forward.”

Detectives off ered a £20,000 reward to catch the killer of an engineering student on the first anniversary of his murder. Chleve Massi, 23, was killed as he arrived at a party in Erebus Drive, Thamesmead, with friends on February 1 last year. Massi was in the hallway on the 13th floor of a tower block when he was shot in the chest. His friends were trying to drive him to hospital when their three-car convoy was stopped by police going to the scene after reports of gunshots. Massi, who was studying at the College of North West London, was transferred to an ambulance but died in hospital. Police have arrested 21 people but no one has been charged with his murder.

Prizes worth £1.25mn funded by the development ministry (DFID) are up for grabs for innovative minds with ideas on how to reduce billions of gallons of water trickling from pipes in developing countries. The competition, called Dreampipe, and announced yesterday by the British-based consultancy IMC Worldwide, looks for innovative ways to boost funding to reduce water lost through leaks, theft or inaccurate meters. In cities like Kenya’s capital Nairobi or Zambia’s Lusaka, some 40% of water is lost through leaks and theft. Reducing water losses increases revenue and helps to conserve the limited resource.

Suspect detained bymurder probe detectives

Archway junction revampto cause misery for drivers

Boy, 16, held after man stabbed to death in park

£20,000 reward off er forleads to student’s killer

Innovators who can plugleaking water pipes sought

CRIME TRAVELLAW AND ORDER INVESTIGATION COMPETITION

EUROPE

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 201614

Germany slams ‘shoot the migrants’ remarks ReutersBerlin

Germany’s interior ministry yesterday dismissed remarks from a populist politician

who called for police to be given powers to use fi rearms against ille-gal migrants, pointing out that such shootings would be illegal.

The suggestion by Frauke Petry, leader of the anti-immigrant Al-ternative for Germany (AfD) party, has fuelled an already heated debate about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s doors to refugees.

“It goes without saying: no Ger-man policeman will use a fi rearm against people who are searching for protection in Germany,” Inte-rior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth told a news conference yesterday.

“And it goes without saying that the use of fi rearms against people to stop an illegal border crossing is unlawful.”

Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabri-el, whose left-leaning Social Democrats are junior partners of Merkel’s conservatives in the co-alition government, said Germa-ny’s domestic intelligence agency

(BfV) should monitor the AfD. “To me, the AfD belongs in the

BfV report and not on television,” Gabriel told the mass-selling Bild newspaper on Sunday. “It is unbe-lievable that such parties may now excrete their slogans on public tel-evision.”

Merkel spokesman Steff en Seib-ert said Petry, whose party has been rising in opinion polls as concern about the infl ux of migrants grows, had “disqualifi ed herself” with such remarks.

The latest twist in the debate about how to stem Germany’s fl ow of asylum seekers, which topped 1mn last year, illustrates the depth of the divide over the issue in a country that adopted strict laws against racism and incitement after the Nazi era.

While condemning Petry’s re-marks, the opposition hard-left Die Linke party also criticised Gabriel for politicising the intelligence agency, which under German law has the fi nal say on whether a party, a group or an individual should be monitored.

Dimroth said spying on the AfD would only be possible if there is ev-idence that the party was violating Germany’s liberal and democratic constitution.

Finnish PM refuses refugee family for security reasons

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila has

said he will not be able fulfil a promise

to put up a family of asylum seekers

for now because of security concerns.

Sipila had stirred controversy in

September by saying he would open

his second home in northern Finland

to refugees. But on Sunday night, he

told public YLE radio that he had to

put the plan on hold, though he would

support a refugee family in other

ways until the situation changed.

“I asked security experts to evalu-

ate whether it would be safe for a

family with children to move in. Due

to the heavy publicity, the situation is

such that it would not be reasonable

right now.”

Sipila has one house near the

capital Helsinki as well as a govern-

ment residence. The house that he

proposed to off er to refugees is one

that he rarely uses in his home town

of Kempele.

Some politicians and members

of the public had accused Sipila of

encouraging asylum seekers to come

to Finland with his off er.

Finland received close to 32,000

asylum seekers last year, up from

3,600 in 2014. The influx, at a time

of economic recession, has boosted

anti-immigrant sentiment and

prompted vigilante groups to patrol

the streets, saying they need to pro-

tect native Finns from migrants.

Migrants and refugees walk through the port of Piraeus after arriving from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios.

Greek islanders, Snowden and Colombia tipped for Peace Nobel By Alister Doyle, Reuters Oslo

Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, peace negotiators in Colombia or Greek islanders helping Syrian refugees were

among tips for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize at yes-terday’s deadline for nominations.

Nobel watchers also speculated that negotiators of an accord over Iran’s nuclear programme could be in the running after a surprise award last year to a coalition of Tunisian democracy campaigners, the National Dialogue Quartet.

“2016 may fi nally be Edward Snowden’s year ... His leaks are now having a positive eff ect,” Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the Peace Research Insti-tute, Oslo, told Reuters, putting him top of his list of candidates.

Harpviken said many nations were now reform-ing laws to restrict intelligence gathering, helping human rights, in the wake of Snowden’s leaks in 2013 of details of the US government’s surveillance programmes.

Washington has fi led espionage charges against Snowden, who has been granted asylum in Russia.

An award of the $930,000 prize to Snowden, by a Nobel committee in Nato member Norway, would be a huge snub for President Barack Obama, the 2009 Nobel laureate.

Asle Sveen, an historian and expert on the prize, said he reckoned the “obvious choice” for 2016 would be to honour Colombia’s government and Farc rebel group - if they succeed in peace talks launched in 2012 to end fi ve decades of war.

He noted Norway’s government had been in-volved in organising peace talks, perhaps sway-ing the fi ve-member Norwegian Nobel committee which is appointed by parliament. Feb. 1 is the an-nual deadline for nominations.

Harpviken placed Colombian peace negotiators third on his list, behind US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, for their role in negotiating a deal last year to limit Iran’s nuclear programme.

That accord led to a lifting of sanctions by major powers on Tehran last month.

Other candidates include Greek islanders who have helped Syrian and other refugees - a campaign by grassroots group Avaaz has collected 635,000 online signatures for a prize to islanders who “have opened their homes and hearts”.

But it could be diffi cult to identify Greek winners under the plans set out by Alfred Nobel, the Swed-ish founder of the prize. The award can be split up to three ways, to individuals or organisations.

Sveen said other candidates may include Russian human rights groups such as Memorial, nominated by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg before she took offi ce in 2013.

UN urges Turkey to probe actions of security forces ReutersGeneva

The UN’ top human rights offi cial yesterday urged Turkey to investigate the

shooting of unarmed people 10 days ago in its largely Kurdish southeast and said any members of the security forces committing rights abuses should be pros-ecuted.

Southeastern Turkey has seen its worst violence in two decades since a 2-1/2-year ceasefi re with militants of the Kurdistan Work-ers’ Party (PKK) collapsed last July, reviving a confl ict in which 40,000 people have been killed since 1984.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein was referring to an inci-dent on January 20, in which 10 people were wounded in the town

of Cizre when their group, includ-ing two opposition politicians, came under fi re while rescuing people hurt in earlier clashes.

“I am urging the Turkish au-thorities to respect the fun-damental rights of civilians in its security operations and to promptly investigate the alleged shooting of a group of unarmed people in the southeastern town of Cizre after shocking video footage emerged last week,” Zeid told a news briefi ng.

The footage showed the group, including a man and a woman holding white fl ags, ferrying bodies across a street, watched from an armoured vehicle. Gun-fi re breaks out and they duck for cover. The camera falls to the ground and a pool of blood forms.

“They are apparently cut down in a hail of gunfi re,” Zeid said in a statement, expressing concern that the cameraman, who was

wounded, might be arrested. “Filming an atrocity is not a

crime, but shooting unarmed ci-vilians most certainly is,” he said.

The Turkish army says more than 600 militants have been killed since operations began in Cizre in December, and denies killing large numbers of civilians.

Government offi cials say the PKK, which the US and Euro-pean Union class as a terrorist group, has caused civilian deaths by digging trenches and erecting barricades in urban centres.

In the latest clashes, the army said yesterday fi ve members of the security forces were killed in PKK attacks in the Sur district of the regional capital Diyarbakir.

Zeid said Turkish authorities had told him that 205 members of the security forces had been killed between July 20 and De-cember 28.

He said the authorities were

entitled to take security meas-ures but must observe human rights law. If “state operatives” violated rights, they must be prosecuted, he said.

Zeid said the video footage raised “major question marks about what exactly has been go-ing on” in Cizre and other parts of the southeast, where 24-hour curfews have been imposed in several towns and journalists have little access.

He also voiced concern at the prosecution of Can Dundar, ed-itor-in-chief of the newspaper Cumhuriyet, which is critical of the president and government, and its Ankara bureau chief, Er-dem Gul.

He called for the release of all journalists, academics and hu-man rights activists “detained or prosecuted simply for recording or criticising the actions of the state”.

Stricken vessel towed away from French coastAFPParis

Maritime experts yester-day successfully man-aged to tow a stricken

cargo ship away from France and prevent it from crashing into the country’s picturesque Atlantic coast.

Louis-Xavier Renaux, a spokesman for local maritime authorities, said a Spanish tug-boat had successfully been con-nected to the ship, which is tilt-ing heavily, “and managed to pivot it, point it towards the open sea and begin towing it.”

After seven days drifting in rough seas, the Panamanian-

registered Modern Express was only 44km from the French coast when authorities launched a fi nal bid to attach a tow line and stop it from hitting the coast.

Experts from Dutch company SMIT Salvage, which special-ises in helping ships in distress, were lowered by helicopter onto the vessel as it tilted at 40 to 50 degrees while buff eted by large waves.

Renaux said the priority now was to distance the cargo ship from the coastline as much as possible in case the tow line snaps in the rough seas.

The ship’s crew sent a distress signal last Tuesday after the ves-sel listed strongly to one side, probably due to its cargo com-

ing loose in the hull. The 22 crew were evacuated by helicopter as they clung to the ship.

Three earlier eff orts to attach the tow line failed, with the cable snapping on Saturday due to the movement of the vessels in the rough seas.

“The difficulty is a combina-tion of several things: the wind, the swell and the angle of the boat which is like climbing a mountain, but which is mov-ing,” a spokesperson for SMIT Salvage told AFP over the week-end.

Renaux said that if the tow line holds, the Modern Express could be pulled into a “refuge port” to be stabilised and straightened. Such a port had yet to be chosen, but

could be in either France or Spain. The Modern Express was car-

rying diggers and 3,600 tonnes of timber from Gabon in west Africa to the port of Le Havre in Normandy.

If the towing operation failed, the Modern Express would likely have crashed onto the coastline of the Bay of Arcachon, where it would have been dismantled or cut up.

With around 300 tonnes of fuel in its tanks, French authori-ties said there was a limited risk of pollution in the event of a crash.

However a clean-up vessel was sent to the scene just in case and coastal communities remained on alert.

The Modern Express cargo ship being towed away from the French coast near the resort town of La Rochelle by Spanish tugboat Centaurus in this handout photo released by the French Marine Nationale.

An anti-nuclear activist wears a gas mask during a protest, against the lack of safety at Belgian nuclear power plants, outside the Belgian Interior Ministry in Brussels yesterday.

Safety concerns

EUROPE15Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Paris, Brussels ponder anti-terror co-operation

(From left) French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, French Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Vice-Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Jambon, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Minister of Justice Koen Geens talk to the press after a French-Belgian meeting in Brussels on the fight against terrorism.

AFPBrussels

The Belgian and French prime ministers yesterday held talks in Brussels aimed at bolster-

ing counter-terror co-operation after Belgium came under fi re for failing to help prevent the November Paris ter-ror attacks.

Charles Michel of Belgium and Manuel Valls of France, joined by their interior and justice ministers, were also tackling the broader threat of ter-rorism across the European Union and the Schengen passport-free zone that

allows unhindered travel, a French of-fi cial said.

The talks focussed on how to rein-force “French-Belgian co-operation on the subject of fi ghting terrorism and radicalisation,” a French offi cial said following tensions between the two neighbours over the issue.

The two sides were studying in particular how to improve the flow of intelligence sharing, the official said.

The French justice ministry will also send a magistrate to Belgium to act as a liaison on important cases, he added.

Belgium has rejected French criti-

cism of its police and intelligence services over alleged failings in the run-up to the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Michel insisted “Belgium is not a lawless area” after investigators re-vealed some of the Paris assailants and those who allegedly helped them had come from the troubled immigrant neighbourhood of Molenbeek in the Belgian capital Brussels.

Islamic State said four of the nine assailants were of Belgian origin, in-cluding one of the organisers, Abdel-hamid Abaaoud, who was killed in a

French police raid days after the mas-sacre. Three others were French and two were Iraqi.

Since mid-November, 11 people have been arrested and charged in Belgium in connection with the mas-sacre. A key suspect, Salah Abdeslam, and his friend Mohamed Abrini, who are both from Molenbeek, are still at large.

Despite the undercurrent of ten-sion, France and Belgium have hailed their co-operation. “The co-opera-tion between our services is excellent and is yielding results,” Michel told Belgium’s diplomatic corps recently. “It also shows what can be improved

and what needs to be reinforced.” In addition to French-Belgian co-

operation, a French offi cial said, the two sides will study “what actions can be taken” to fi ght terrorism at the Eu-ropean Union level and in the 26-na-tion Schengen zone, which includes most EU countries. Paris in particu-lar is pushing for a deal on sharing the names of airline passengers to help trace returning militants.

The prime ministers were ac-companied by interior ministers Jan Jambon of Belgium and Bernard Ca-zeneuve of France as well as justice ministers Koen Geens of Belgium and Jean-Jacques Urvoas of France.

Kadyrov puts Putin critics in the crosshairs

AFPMoscow

Pro-Kremlin Chechen leader Ram-zan Kadyrov, who rules his south-ern Russian region with an iron

grip, yesterday published a video show-ing opposition fi gures in the cross hairs of a sniper scope.

The clip, posted on Kadyrov’s popular Instagram page, features former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov - who heads the Parnas opposition party - alongside Vladimir Kara-Murza, the par-ty’s deputy leader, targeted in the sights.

“Whoever did not get it will get it now!” Kadyrov wrote in the video’s de-scription, which also alleged the ex-pre-mier had gone to France to raise money for the Russian opposition.

Kara-Murza told AFP he and Kasy-anov considered Kadyrov’s Instagram post a “direct incitement to murder.”

“This is the result of the impunity that has reigned since Boris Nemtsov’s murder,” Kara-Murza said, referring to the opposition politician gunned down steps from the Kremlin last year.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin “does not mon-itor Kadyrov’s Instagram account” but would look into the matter.

Kasyanov, who served as prime min-ister between 2000 and 2004, wrote on his Facebook page that Putin, who ap-pointed Kadyrov in 2007, should be held accountable for the Chechen leader’s actions.

“As the guarantor of the Constitution and citizens’ rights and freedoms, Putin must stop this presumptuous offi cial and provide a public assessment of his actions,” Kasyanov wrote. “Putin bears personal responsibility for Kadyrov’s actions.”

The former prime minister also said he would fi le a complaint with law enforce-ment authorities “in the near future.”

Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Kremlin’s human rights council, warned that Kadyrov’s Instagram post could prompt some “unstable” people to as-sassinate politicians.

“In the country, there are mentally unstable people who may think that the head of a Russian region is calling for the murder of a political fi gure and interpret his words as a call for action,” Interfax news agency quoted Fedotov as saying.

Kara-Murza said the footage used in Kadyrov’s post was fi lmed by LifeNews, a sensationalist channel known for its ties to Russian security services.

Kadyrov, who rules a North Caucasus region that was the scene of two separa-tist wars, has threatened Kremlin critics on several occasions in the past.

Last month, the Chechen leader penned a lengthy diatribe in pro-Krem-lin daily Izvestiya against Putin’s crit-ics, calling them a “gang of jackals” who “dream of destroying our state.”

The remarks caused an uproar and several people publicly criticised Kady-rov, prompting Chechen authorities to organise a mass rally in support of their strongman leader.

Greece lowers curtain on play in censorship row By Renee Maltezou, Reuters Athens

The cancellation of a Greek National Theatre play critics had attacked as

glorifying convicted killers, has ignited a debate on political vio-lence and art censorship in the country that began staging thea-tre around 2,600 years ago.

The ‘Nash Equilibrium’, a fi c-tional political thriller loosely based on Greece’s deadly No-vember 17 guerrilla group, is seen

through the prism of a militant. It made headlines when it was

called off in late January after two weeks of performance on the National Theatre’s experimental stage.

It followed protests by rela-tives of victims and by conserva-tive lawmakers.

But demonstrations by actors and free-speech supporters out-side the theatre in central Athens led to one fi nal performance on Sunday night.

“Today’s performance is a vic-tory which belongs to all of us,”

one of the actors said through a loudspeaker, before free tickets for the play were handed out to dozens of people waiting outside the theatre.

The fi ve actors, who performed without their original props and costumes, were welcomed on stage to strong applause.

Freedom of expression is a par-ticularly sensitive issue in crisis-hit Greece, which has a history of political violence, including from November 17 and during the 1967-1974 rule by a military junta.

The November 17 group killed 23 people, among them US and British diplomats, before being dismantled in 2002. Those ar-rested and convicted have been sentenced to multiple life times in prison.

Relatives of the group’s vic-tims said the play, which quoted excerpts from a book by impris-oned November 17 member Savas Xiros, gave him “a chance to be-come likeable” and was aimed at his release.

“Mr Xiros said he paid his debt ... Will he also bring back the

fathers of our children?” asked Conservative MP Dora Bakoyian-ni in a tweet. Her husband Pavlos was gunned down by November 17 militants in 1989.

The US embassy said in a tweet that “art should not be censored” but added that it joined those who questioned “whether the public should fund the art of a terrorist”.

Last Thursday, the theatre’s artistic director cancelled the last four performances of the play, saying in a statement that it had caused “more pain than

room for thought” and had led to “threats”, without disclosing fur-ther details.

But supporters said cancelling the play, which also quoted No-bel-prize writer Albert Camus’ “Les Justes” and texts by politi-cal theorist Hannah Arendt was an act of censorship. The direc-tor and actors said they respected the victims’ relatives.

The National Theatre’s board issued a statement opposing the decision. “Art should host the voices of those who wronged and those who have been wronged,

otherwise none of Shakespeare’s plays would have ever been per-formed,” it said.

Prime Minister’s Alexis Tsipras’ leftist Syriza party called the cancellation of the play a “sad development”.

“We share the sensitivity and fully stand by the relatives of the victims,” said Culture Minister Aristides Baltas adding that the ministry’s role was not to inter-vene. “The blind reactions to one theatrical performance insult this social sensitivity and the memory of the victims.”

Allier prefect Arnaud Cochet addresses French farmers, demonstrating against falling prices of their produce, outside the prefecture in Moulins.

Price protest Slovak opposition bets on anti-graft message By Tatiana Jancarikova, Reuters Bratislava

Slovakia’s fragmented centre-right opposition hopes its calls for a strong crackdown on corruption

will help propel it to power in a March 5 parliamentary election despite the ruling leftists’ strong lead in opinion polls.

Radoslav Prochazka, leader of the main centre-right party, said he wanted to shift the focus of the debate to living standards and away from Europe’s migrant crisis, where Prime Minister Robert Fico’s tough stance appeals to voters.

Slovakia ranks 50th among 168 coun-tries in Transparency International’s 2015 corruption perception index and is among the seven worst-performing nations in the 28-member European Union.

“We need at least one example of a

successful criminal prosecution that will make a politician literally pay back the money lost in shady contracts,” Prochaz-ka, 43, told Reuters in an interview.

The Yale-educated lawyer said he wanted to ban fi rms of unknown owner-ship, a frequent source of suspicions of graft, from winning government deals.

Prochazka said graft stifl ed the proper functioning of the state. The country of 5.4mn has enjoyed solid economic growth, but unemployment is still high at 10.6%.

Citing the success of anti-graft cam-paigns in some other former communist EU member states, Prochazka said: “If Romania can do it, so can we.”

Opinion polls put Prochazka’s centrist Siet party, contesting its fi rst election, in second place, on about 14%, but still far behind Fico’s Smer, which has about 41%.

Centre-right parties cooperated to oust leftist prime minister Vladimir Meciar

in 1998 and Fico in 2010. That looks less likely now as some opposition parties such as the mildly nationalist Slovak Na-tional Party look more likely to join Smer.

Pledging to cut red tape for businesses and reduce taxes for families, Prochazka criticised government handouts such as free train passes for students and pen-sioners or coupons for poor families for holidays at state-owned hotels.

However, Prochazka was cautious about challenging Smer’s anti-immigra-tion rhetoric, which has proven popular in Roman Catholic Slovakia as large num-bers of mostly Muslim migrants arrive in Europe fl eeing wars and poverty.

“I understand the fear of global expan-sion of Islam to Europe. Mass migration is linked to security risks,” said Prochazka, adding: “But Slovaks are more worried about their living standards than about migrants.”

Petrol up despite fall in global crude oil prices

Failed students not to lose academic year

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to secure the release of nine fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan navy on January 30. In letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said: “I urge your personal intervention to prevent the aggravation that the Sri Lankan authorities and navy are causing to our fishermen.” She requested Modi to direct the external aff airs ministry to take up the matter with Sri Lankan authorities urgently and secure the release of the fishermen and their fishing boats. India and Sri Lanka are divided by a narrow strip of sea, and Sri Lankan authorities routinely arrest fishermen from Tamil Nadu who they say fish in the island nation’s waters.

The Supreme Court yesterday slammed the Gujarat government for not implementing the National Food Security Act. Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice N V Ramana asked: “You have to tell us whether you believe in parliament of India or law passed by it. If not, then why?” Asking if Gujarat was “unique”, the court said the government’s stand amounted to undermining the law. “The National Food Security Act extends to the whole of India. How can Gujarat say (how) it will be implemented?” Saying that Gujarat’s stand was “sad”, the court asked: “What is parliament of India doing? What is the government doing?”

A New Delhi court yesterday allowed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s appeal seeking records of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) in a criminal defamation complaint filed by him against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other Aam Aadmi Party leaders. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khangwal said Jaitley could access records of DDCA from December 1999 to December 2003 when he was the association’s president. The will hear the matter tomorrow. Kejriwal, following a Central Bureau of Investigation raid at the Delhi Secretariat, had alleged that off icials searched his off ice, and that they were looking for a file on a probe of DDCA. The has CBI denied raiding Kejriwal’s off ice.

Get Indian fishermen freed: Jaya urges PM

SC raps Gujarat overfood security law

Court allows Jaitley’s plea for DDCA records

CONTROVERSY CRITICISMJUDICIARY

Consumers have been deprived of the benefit of falling global crude prices after state-run oil firms hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel on Saturday. Indian Oil Corporation announced that petrol per litre will now cost Rs59.95 in Delhi, Rs64.84 in Kolkata, Rs66.05 in Mumbai and Rs59.42 in Chennai. Similarly, the price of diesel per litre is now Rs44.68 in Delhi, Rs48.04 in Kolkata, Rs51.22 in Mumbai and Rs45.33 in Chennai. The increase in excise will fetch the exchequer over Rs32bn during the remaining part of the fiscal year till March-end. IOC last revised prices on January 15, making under one rupee cuts in transport fuel prices.

ECONOMY EDUCATION

In a major progressive policy, the Maharashtra government has decided to permit students who fail in HSC (Class XII) exams to reappear in July so that they don’t lose a valuable academic year, Education Minister Vinod Tawde said in Mumbai yesterday. Until now, such students were permitted to take the exams only in October and the results were declared by December, eff ectively compelling them to take up further studies only after they had lost an academic year. The new policy will ensure that such students don’t forfeit an academic year and if they pass the re-exam, they can continue their further studies without a break, the minister added.

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 2016

INDIA16

Delhi policeunder fi refor assaulton students AAP, Congress condemn police action as video goes viral

AgenciesNew Delhi

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the city’s police yesterday of terror-

ising protesters after video foot-age of them belting university students with sticks at a peaceful demonstration went viral.

Delhi University students staged a protest in the Indian capi-tal last weekend over the death of a young Dalit scholar who commit-ted suicide after he was suspended from the University of Hyderabad.

Video of the protest held out-side the headquarters of a right-wing Hindu outfi t shows police hovering around the placard-waving and chanting students before suddenly beating them with wooden sticks and their fi sts.

The students are heard scream-ing and running away as police chase them, with some grabbing the protesters by the hair and pin-ning them to the ground.

“There was no provocation from the side of the protesters. It was a small group, non-violent and unarmed. The police could have easily managed such a small crowd without using brute force,” photographer Vikas Kumar, who covered the protest, said on the Catch News website.

Police have ordered an inquiry into the violence which sparked outrage on social media yesterday, while the video was being played repeatedly on India’s TV news channels.

“We have ordered an inquiry into the incident and are analys-ing the video,” police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said.

According to another Delhi police offi cial, the students man-handled the police team.

“The protesters were stopped at the barricade by a police team and asked to continue their pro-test peacefully but they broke the barricade. They also manhandled the police team when they were stopped,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Parmaditya said.

The offi cer said he was unaware that the protesters were assaulted by the police.

Kejriwal claimed offi cers were being manipulated by his arch rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules at national level and is in charge of the city’s police force.

Protests have been staged in cities throughout India in recent weeks over scholar Rohit Vemu-la’s death, a highly emotional case that some have blamed on caste discrimination.

Vemula, a member of India’s lowest Dalit social caste, was among a group suspended by the University of Hyderabad after they were accused of assaulting the head of the BJP’s student wing there - a charge they denied.

The protest on Saturday was held outside the offi ces of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the hardline ideological parent of Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi’s BJP.

“Del pol being used by BJP/RSS as their pvt army to terrorise n teach lesson to anyone oppos-ing BJP/RSS. I strongly condemn attack on students,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Referring to earlier student protests at the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Hyderabad University, Kejriwal said: “FTII, Rohith case, Hyd Univ, IITs and now brutal at-tack on Delhi students. Modi gov-

ernment seems to be at war with students all across.”

The Congress too condemned the beating up of the students.

“The Congress would like to put on record that this govern-ment has become completely ap-athetic to the voice of students, in addition to being anti-Dalit and anti-poor. They have time and again indulged in crushing dis-sent,” Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said.

“This insane crushing of dis-sent by using state machinery will not go down well with the youth of this country,” he said.

Bollywood star Swara Bhaskar too decried the “brutal” and “un-provoked” action of the police.

In an e-mail sent to media, an indignant Bhaskar said: “It was a peaceful students’ march in sup-port of late Rohith Vemula calling for justice. They were simply rais-ing the usual slogans when they were disrupted by Delhi police in the most brutal way. May I add that the police action was totally unprovoked.”

Bhaskar has also expressed her views on Twitter and Facebook, where she has shared a link of a video showcasing the policemen’s baton-charge on the students.

“The most damning aspect perhaps is that apart from police, there are also some random goons who are hitting men and also women. This act happened in the presence and under the watch of Additional DCP (deputy commis-sioner of police) Mr Kalsi.”

Bhaskar, who belongs to Delhi and is the daughter of well known strategic analyst C Uday Bhaskar, is among a new crop of young, well educated actors who do not hesitate to speak out against so-cial wrongs and community in-justices and take to social media to voice their opinions fearlessly.

Activists of the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh stage a demonstration against the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar of the University of Hyderabad, in Mumbai yesterday.

W Bengal Congressfavours LF alliance IANSNew Delhi

The majority of members of a team from the West Bengal Congress yester-

day expressed their willingness for an alliance with the Left Front for the upcoming assembly polls, after meeting party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

According to one of the mem-bers of the delegation of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, almost all members were against tying up with the state’s ruling Trinamool Con-gress.

Congress president Sonia Gan-dhi will take a fi nal decision on a possible alliance.

“We had a long discussion with our vice president Rahul Gandhi ji. I must appreciate that Rahul Gandhi ji gave us a patient hearing,” the Con-gress’s West Bengal unit chief

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told reporters.

“He listened to us with rapt attention, although everyone present there expressed independ-ent views. Rahul ji has assured us that all the views expressed will be taken into account. After hav-ing a threadbare discussion with Sonia ji, we will be sitting together again and at that time, the views of the Congress Party will be an-nounced,” he said.

On the possibility of an alli-ance with the Left Front, he said: “I cannot say that an alliance be-tween the Congress and CPM has been done.

“Rahul Gandhi assured us that in consultation with Sonia Gan-dhi, he will be able to conclude the chapter of alliance, either yes or no.”

Chowdhury is believed to be among those leaders who feel an alliance with the Left Front was the only way to challenge the Tri-namool Congress.

Pinarayi undertakes imagemakeover ahead of election IANSThrissur, Kerala

Often called an ‘iron man’ in political circles due to his dour demeanour,

Marxist leader Pinarayi Vijayan nowadays can be seen sporting a smile as he drums up support for his the Communist Party of India (Marxist) ahead of Kerala assem-bly elections.

Though there is a signifi cant change in his tough body lan-guage, the 72-year-old veteran politician insists there has been no change in him as he undertakes a statewide rally.

“...what needs to be noted is that I am now no longer a party secretary. Hence, I am not under frequent attack now,” the CPM leader said.

Vijayan was secretary of the Kerala state committee of the

CPM from 1998 to 2015, the long-est tenure in the party’s history.

Asked further on a palpa-ble change in his demeanour, he countered: “Are these not just perceptions and impressions of the people?”

At present, Vijayan is busy leading his party’s ‘Nava Kerala March’ to warm up the CPM rank and fi le in the southern state for the assembly polls, likely to be held in April/May. Ever since the beginning of his yatra, Vijayan has been drawing huge crowds.

He said there has been good public response to his yatra. “This time, there appears to be a huge response from women and chil-dren, who waited in front of their homes to see the yatra pass by,” the leftist leader said.

Saying that the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party will not be able to open its account in the Kerala as-sembly in the coming elections,

Vijayan said the recent political alliance between Hindu Ezhava strongman Vellapalli Natesan and the BJP-Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh combine had been rejected by the supporters and followers of both.

“The BJP will in no way open its account in the assembly. If the ruling Congress and the BJP try to enter into some sort of secret pact, the end result will be simi-lar to what happened in the past... in such a case, secular people will turn towards us,” Vijayan said.

As for the ways to tackle cor-ruption, he said there was need to take a closer look at a few ad-ministrative reforms committee recommendations gathering dust in the state secretariat.

Asked about the next chief minister of Kerala, he said his par-ty did not go to polls by projecting a candidate for the top political post in the state.

Bribes paidto two otherleaders tooin bar scam,says Ramesh

IANSThiruvananthapuram/Kochi

Kerala bar owner Biju Ramesh yesterday opened a new can of worms, alleg-

ing that Rs20mn was paid to then state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala and Rs2.5mn to Health Minister V S Sivakumar as bribes. Both leaders denied the charge.

Refuting Ramesh’s allegation, Chennithala, who is now the home minister, said every time money is received as party fund, it is not only accounted for but also audited.

Sivakumar also denied the charge, saying he deals with health issues and not with bars.

Ramesh had earlier alleged that bribes were paid to Excise Minis-ter K Babu and Finance Minister K M Mani - both of whom later resigned.

“We (bar owners) handed over the money to Chennithala at his offi ce in the state party headquar-ters and it was given to see that government policies when taken will not aff ect the bar owners.

“The money to Sivakumar was paid to his staff ,” Ramesh told re-porters.

State Congress president V M Sudheeran said things will have to be found out.

United Democratic Front leader Antony Raju told the me-dia that the government has got “valuable leads” about the conspirators behind these rev-elations, and in the next few days more details will be coming out.

Meanwhile, Babu, who re-signed after a lower court ordered further probe into the allegation of bribe given to him, returned to offi ce yesterday, after the UDF asked him to take back his resig-nation as the Kerala High Court gave him a reprieve.

“Who does not know that all that has happened in the bar is-sue is nothing but a well-planned conspiracy,” Babu said after re-suming offi ce in the state secre-tariat.

Ramesh: fresh charges

Actress-turned politician Roopa Ganguly gestures as she speaks at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kolkata yesterday.

Party meeting

17Gulf TimesTuesday, February 2, 2016

INDIA

Teen run over by trainwhile taking selfi e AgenciesChennai

A teenager was struck and killed after he tried to take a photo of himself

in front of an oncoming train, police said yesterday, in the latest deadly accident involv-ing selfi es.

The passenger train ran over the boy shortly after he stepped onto railway tracks to snap the picture in Chen-nai, while walking home with friends on Sunday evening.

“It was a freak accident. More youngsters are now ad-dicted to taking selfi es,” rail-way police offi cer S Ramuthai from the Chennai suburb of Tambaram said.

The boy, reportedly aged 16, who had spent the day at the zoo, had walked in front of the train, waiting for it to get clos-er to take the photo, according

to local media reports. “Witnesses told us that he

was on the edge of the platform when he was trying to take his selfi e and was hit by the train,” stationmaster M Sudhakar said.

The accident comes just weeks after police in Mum-bai moved to crack down on dangerous selfi es after a man drowned trying to save a girl who fell into the sea snapping one.

Police identifi ed 16 danger-ous selfi e spots in Mumbai and have asked the local council to erect warning signs and deploy lifeguards.

In May last year a Russian woman accidentally shot her-self in the head with a pistol while posing for a selfi e with the weapon.

And US investigators last February said a pilot’s repeat-ed snapping of selfi e photos caused a small plane to crash, killing both people on board.

PM renews India supportfor peaceful Afghanistan IANSNew Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday reiterated India’s commitment to

building a peaceful Afghanistan when Afghanistan’s Chief Ex-ecutive Offi cer and Head of the Council of Ministers Abdullah Abdullah met him here.

“The prime minister ex-pressed deep gratitude towards the government and the national security forces of Afghanistan for their bravery and sacrifi ce in order to protect the Indians, es-pecially during the attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif on January 4-5, 2016,” the external aff airs ministry said in a statement.

“The prime minister reiter-ated India’s commitment to ex-tend all possible support to the eff orts of the Afghan people in building a peaceful, stable, pros-

perous, inclusive and democrat-ic country,” it stated.

On his part, Abdullah Abdul-lah recalled positively the maid-en and successful visit of Modi to Afghanistan in December last year.

During Modi’s visit to Kabul on December 25, the new Afghan parliament building, construct-ed with India’s aid, was inaugu-rated.

At yesterday’s meeting, Ab-dullah Abdullah said the visit re-energised the strategic partner-ship between the two countries.

“He deeply appreciated the support being extended by In-dia for infrastructure develop-ment and capacity building in Afghanistan,” the external aff airs ministry statement said.

“The two leaders shared views on further deepening the strate-gic partnership, both in the bi-lateral and regional context.”

An agreement for visa-free travel for diplomatic passport

holders of the two countries was exchanged in the presence of Modi and Abdullah Abdullah.

The Afghanistan Chief Ex-ecutive later held a meeting with External Aff airs Minister Sush-ma Swaraj during the course of which India approved the third phase of 92 small development projects in Afghanistan.

External aff airs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweet-ed that Swaraj has approved the “strategic partnership for the benefi t of (Afghan) people”.

Abdullah Abdullah, who ar-rived here on Sunday on a fi ve-day visit to India, will leave for Jaipur today where he will deliv-er the keynote address at a con-ference on counter-terrorism organised by the India Founda-tion in collaboration with Sardar Patel University of Police, Secu-rity and Criminal Justice.

President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the conference today.

Governor callsPDP and BJPleaders formeeting today IANSJammu/Srinagar/New Delhi

Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra yesterday asked the People’s Democratic Party

and the Bharatiya Janata Party to meet him today over government formation but the two appeared to be drifting apart.

Political sources in Srinagar said after being delayed by three weeks, government formation was looking increasingly a re-mote possibility.

In Srinagar, PDP legislators met and asked their president Mehbooba Mufti to meet Vohra in the winter capital Jammu today.

The legislators “authorised Mehbooba Mufti to convey the legislature party’s views to the governor,” senior PDP leader and former minister Naeem Akhtar told reporters.

The legislators did not elect Mehbooba, an MP, leader of the legislature party in the 87-mem-ber state assembly. Party leaders said the matter was not even dis-cussed.

The state came under Gover-nor’s Rule on January 8, a day af-ter Mehbooba’s father and chief minister Mufti Mohamed Sayeed died. He had headed an alliance of his PDP and the BJP.

Mehbooba has said she would not stake claim to power in the state unless the BJP-led central government gave assurances on time-bound implementation of the agenda of alliance between the two parties.

She is not a member of the hung assembly and represents Anant-nag in the Lok Sabha. There has been speculation that she may ditch the BJP and embrace the Congress and smaller parties.

BJP state president Sat Pal Sharma meanwhile fl ew to New Delhi with former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and Lok

Sabha MP Jugal Kishore to meet party leaders.

Sharma said there were no preconditions from the BJP.

He also said there were no dif-ferences between the two par-ties and hoped that an elected government comprising the PDP and BJP would soon be in place in the state. But he ruled out any further assurances on the alli-ance agenda. Leaders of the two parties will meet Governor Vo-hra today separately.

On Sunday, Mehbooba told her party colleagues she was not ready to become the chief minis-ter of the state “for nothing”.

She could not hide her bit-terness, or grief, over her fa-ther’s death. “Non-fulfi lment of promises made by us to the peo-ple in the last 10 months taxed Mufti sahib heavily,” she said while referring to her late father.

The PDP leader said that her father died a sad man.

“Till the time he was talking in the Intensive Care Unit of AIIMS, Mufti sahib asked me whether a relief package promised by the Centre had reached the state.”

“I said yes. I lied to my father,” Mehbooba said.

“Mufti sahib took a courageous but unpopular decision to form an alliance with the BJP but the alliance has not delivered so far.”

Sources say it is now a game of brinkmanship between the PDP and the BJP.

Meanwhile, Vohra is reported to have fi nalised a list of advis-ers he needs to run the coun-try’s only Muslim-majority state during Governor’s Rule.

Under its own constitution, the state can be under Gover-nor’s Rule for six months.

If the governor is convinced there are no chances of a gov-ernment taking power, he can recommend dissolution of the state assembly and seek fresh elections.

Parents and relatives of the college students who drowned in the Arabian Sea gather outside the Abeda Inamdar College in Pune yesterday.

14 students on picnicdrown in beach tragedy Victims were part of a group of students from a Pune college

AgenciesMumbai

A college picnic to the beach turned into a trag-edy yesterday when at

least 14 students drowned off Maharashtra’s coast after they went swimming, police and of-fi cials said.

The tragedy was the latest drowning incident in India, where many people are unable to swim and lax safety stand-ards mean beaches are often without lifeguards.

Dozens of students from Pune were on an excursion to Murud beach in the Raigad dis-trict when disaster struck.

“A total of 155 students from Pune went to Murud main beach and some of them went swimming around 3.30pm,” as-sistant inspector of Raigad po-lice Arvind Patil said.

“Fourteen students are dead due to drowning. The victims were all aged between 19 and 23,” Patil said, adding that 10 women and four men had died.

The victims were enrolled at Abeda Inamdar College, an arts, science and commerce institute in Pune.

P A Inamdar, a trustee at the college, said that the students had been on a picnic to Murud, which had been arranged by the educational institute.

“They were on an excursion and must have gone into the sea against the advice of the teach-ers. They were swept away by the tides,” Inamdar said.

Inamdar said all other stu-dents had been accounted for while Patil also said every-one else on the excursion was “safe” after a massive rescue operation involving the coast guard.

Murud sits on the Konkan coast, which has dozens of beaches popular with locals who prefer it to the internation-ally renowned tourist state of Goa.

Murud is around 140km south of Mumbai.

Inamdar said between eight and ten college staff had ac-companied the students on their trip and he had been told that there hadn’t been any life-guards on duty at the time of the tragedy.

“I don’t think there were life-guards on the beach. That is the basic problem,” he said.

Local people speculated that some of the students ventured too far out into the waters and were probably caught by the tidal currents, which swept them away.

“We are shocked by this trag-edy. We are making all eff orts to help the students and their families with the help of lo-cal villagers and police. A team of our trustees has already left Pune for Raigad for rendering further assistance,” Inamdar said.

He said the process of in-forming their families was un-derway and 10 ambulances have been sent for relief work.

Meanwhile, thousands of tourists and locals gathered at the beach where the bodies of the victims were lined up as wailing parents and stunned relatives rushed to the college

campus in Pune or to Murud.Yesterday’s drowning

comes a few weeks after a man drowned off Mumbai trying to save a girl who fell into the sea while taking a selfi e.

The girl and two friends fell off rocks into the Arabian Sea while clicking photos of them-selves.

A passerby, 37-year-old Ramesh Walanju, jumped in and helped save the two friends but was washed away by the choppy waters and his body was found fl oating in a nearby creek. The girl is still missing.

In February 2014, 29 peo-ple died when a passenger boat capsized in the eastern state of Odisha.

A month prior to that inci-dent, 21 people were killed when a tourist boat capsized off the Andaman Islands.

Modi and Abdullah Abdullah witness the exchange of agreement for visa-free travel for diplomatic passport holders of India and Afghanistan, in New Delhi yesterday.

Govt aid helps carmakers go green and cheap ReutersNew Delhi

Carmakers are gearing up to launch aff ordable hy-brid and electric cars for

India in the next few years, exec-utives said, lured by government incentives for fuel-effi cient ve-hicles as the country accelerates eff orts to cut worsening air pol-lution.

As the industry descends on smog-bound New Delhi for In-dia’s biggest car show, start-ing tomorrow, foreign fi rms like Toyota Motor Corporation will join domestic players like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahin-

dra in displaying green cars de-signed to reel in potential buyers.

The stakes are high in one of the fastest-growing car markets in the world. While hybrid and electric cars now make up a tiny fraction of sales, new govern-ment aid worth up to $2,000 per car could help catapult green ve-hicles to nearly a third of a 5mn car market by 2020, IHS Auto-motive says.

“It is not enough to just intro-duce new technology in India, you have to make it relevant for the market and the buyers,” said C V Raman, head of engineering at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, In-dia’s top-selling carmaker.

India’s rampant pollution has

forced the government’s hand. A court last month ordered an overnight temporary ban on the sale of large diesel cars in New Delhi, among the world’s most polluted cities.

Carmakers were left jittery, many having invested heav-ily in comparatively cheap die-sel technology over the years to conquer India.

Reliance on imported parts still makes full-scale hybrid technology cars expensive, but with India’s new sales incen-tives, ‘semi-hybrid’ technology is seen as a potential longer term solution.

To incentivise carmakers, the government introduced a

scheme last year called FAME - Faster Adoption and Manu-facturing of Hybrid and Electric cars - that off ers concessions of up to Rs138,000 ($2,032) on the sale of such cars.

The scheme, introduced be-fore the New Delhi court order and originally planned for two years, will now likely be extend-ed till 2020.

To be sure, some carmakers, like General Motors Company, Hyundai Motor Company and Honda Motor Company, are yet to be convinced on hybrid technology potential in India. Instead, they will focus their presence at the New Delhi auto show on gas-guzzling

sport-utility vehicles. Toyota is among those now looking at bringing in a hybrid variant for future models, as well as cars it now sells in India, which is also moving towards stricter emis-sion norms.

“Our strategy is to go for hy-bridisation,” said Naomi Ishii, head of Toyota’s India unit. Ishii did not give a specifi c timeline, but said the Japanese carmaker will fi rst bring it hybrid in for its top-end models and then in the mass segment, mainly because of the high cost of imported components.

Meanwhile Maruti, majority-owned by Suzuki Motor Corpo-ration, has already invested in

developing a low-cost version of hybrid technology, irrespec-tive of government incentives. Maruti says the technology com-

bines fuel effi ciency and lower emissions, but is not as expen-sive as existing traditional hy-brid technology.

Tata mulls changing name of Zica car

Tata Motors is due to launch a small car whose name sounds like a fast-spreading virus, forcing the automaker to consider changing the vehicle’s name. The company will unveil the hatchback - for now called Zica - at the Auto Expo set to begin near Delhi this week. The Zika virus is transmitted by mosquitoes

and has appeared in more than 21 countries in the Americas and Europe. The virus is thought to cause birth malformations through mother-to-child transmission. Tata Motors named Zica months ago, using the first two letters of the words zippy and car, Tata Motors spokeswoman Minari Shah said.

18 Gulf TimesTuesday, February 2, 2016

LATIN AMERICA

Argentinastarts talks with‘vulture’creditors AFPNew York

Argentina’s new govern-ment began negotiations with hedge fund creditors

yesterday, amid reports it wants them to write off up to a quarter of their bonds to settle a long-running dispute.

Finance Secretary Luis Capu-to arrived yesterday morning at the New York offi ces of the US court-appointed mediator Dan-iel Pollack in a fresh eff ort to end a debt battle rooted in the coun-try’s $100bn default in 2001.

Major Argentine newspaper Clarin said the government, which took offi ce in December, planned to propose a 15% cut in the debt. Business newspaper El Cronista meanwhile reported that the reduction sought would be about 25%.

“We don’t expect any news today,” said Caputo as he arrived for the talks.

Argentina’s access to global fi -nancial markets has been tightly restricted for years due to the dispute with the hedge funds de-manding to be paid the full value of the bonds they hold, even though some 93% of the coun-try’s creditors accepted hefty write-downs of their bonds in debt restructurings years ago.

In 2012 a New York court backed the claim for 100% pay-outs sought by the hedge funds, NML Capital and Aurelius Capi-tal Management.

But Argentina’s former left-ist president Cristina Kirchner refused to negotiate, branding them “vultures”.

Buenos Aires said the funds bought up Argentine debt cheaply around the time of the default and then refused to take part in the restructuring.

Kirchner though was replaced in December by a new conserva-tive president, Mauricio Macri, who is seeking warmer foreign relations and has vowed to strike an agreement.

Even so, a deal would chal-lenge the country’s fi nances.

Farc will enter politics,seek alliances: leader ReutersBogota

Colombia’s Farc rebel group will enter politics and seek alliances with other par-

ties after it signs a peace deal with the government, the top guerrilla leader said, despite rebel fears they may be targeted by right-wing armed groups.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, have been in talks since late 2012 with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos to end fi ve decades of war.

“We will be in politics with-out arms,” Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, said in an interview with local magazine Semana. “We will enter a po-litical scenario where it will be fundamental to unite the larg-est number of forces possible to guarantee the deal is fulfi lled.

“We will put our arms to one side and take up the political struggle.”

Negotiators at the Cuba-based talks have reached deals on land reform, an end to illegal

drug traffi cking, guerrilla par-ticipation in politics, transition-al justice, eff orts to fi nd missing persons and remove land mines.

A United Nations mission will supervise rebel disarmament once an accord is signed. The war has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Although rebel ranks sup-port the peace talks, many fear they may be targeted by right-wing groups after a peace deal, Londono said. Paramilitaries, sometimes with the aid of mili-tary offi cials, systematically as-sassinated 5,000 members of the left-wing Patriotic Union party in the 1980s, including two presidential candidates.

“A common question is: ‘Comrade, will the same that happened to the Patriotic Union happen to us?’ That is the fear,” said Londono. The Farc’s po-litical party could participate in 2018 legislative and presidential elections, he said.

All sectors of Colombian socie-ty, including fi erce opponents like ex-president Alvaro Uribe, must commit to helping implement a peace deal, Londono said, adding: “Let’s give Colombia a chance.”

OAS joins bid to rescueHaiti election process ReutersPort-au-Prince

A special mission sent by the Organisation of American States has

met Haiti’s President Michel Martelly as part of intensifying eff orts to resolve an electoral crisis that threatens stability in the Caribbean nation.

Martelly is due to leave offi ce on February 7 but has no suc-cessor because violent protests over alleged fraud in a fl awed fi rst round led electoral au-thorities to call off a runoff vote scheduled to be held a week ago.

The government and the op-position remain at loggerheads, with each side holding protests almost daily and no agreement on who will rule the country if Martelly leaves offi ce without an elected replacement.

“The OAS mission discussed with President Martelly and they will meet representatives of diff erent sectors to help us fi nd a solution likely to facili-tate the completion of the elec-

toral process”, Fritz Jean-Louis, a minister dealing with election issues, told Reuters.

Criticism of the October 25 fi rst round focused on hun-dreds of thousands of party agents permitted to vote in any polling station, which the OAS has said was “seen as one of the main sources of irregularities.”

The runoff , with tighter con-trols on voting by party repre-sentatives, was supposed to be between ruling party favourite Jovenel Moise and opposition challenger Jude Celestin.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has struggled for decades to build a stable democracy, with critics saying that foreign assistance has of-ten fallen short of expectations, including after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Jean-Louis said Martelly requested OAS help to avoid the political crisis worsening after February 7.

Anti-government protesters have voiced opposition to the OAS initiative, which they be-lieve may help Martelly remain in power beyond the constitu-

tional date for his departure. At least four proposals for

what to do after February 7 are on the table, including options for an interim government that would be tasked with organ-ising elections. The proposal most strongly resisted by the opposition is for Martelly to stay on until elections are held.

The opposition, which in-cludes members of several par-ties who dispute the results of a fi rst round election, threatens to intensify protests.

The crisis deepened this week when members of the nine-member electoral coun-cil resigned. Only three remain in offi ce. Organising a vote will be diffi cult if they are not re-placed quickly. Proposals under discussion include nominating a Supreme Court judge or the current prime minister as pro-visional president. Another idea is that the National Assembly appoint an interim president.

Martelly said this week he would not leave if there was no agreement about what hap-pened after February 7.

Brazil’s Zikavirus outbreakworse than believed: govt ReutersBrasilia

Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Castro yesterday said that the Zika epidem-

ic in his country is worse than believed because in 80% of the cases the infected people have no symptoms.

In an interview with Reu-ters, Castro said Brazil will start mandatory reporting of cases by local governments next week when most states will have labs equipped to test for Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that has quickly spread through Latin America.

Castro said Brazilian re-searchers are convinced that Zika is the cause of the 3,700 confirmed and suspected cases of newborns with brain defects in Brazil. He said the virus cannot be transmitted from person to person, only by mosquito.

Brazil will follow the US deci-sion last week to prohibit blood donations from people who have been infected with Zika, he said. The disease, detected for the fi rst time in the Americas in Brazil last year, has no vaccine and no known cure.

Meanwhile for scores of wom-en in the epicentre of the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the joy of pregnancy has given way to fear.

In the sprawling coastal city of Recife, panic has struck mater-nity wards since Zika was linked to wave of brain damage in new-borns.

In about four-fi fths of cases, Zika causes no noticeable symp-toms so women have no idea if

they contracted it during preg-nancy. Test kits for the virus are only eff ective in the fi rst week of infection and only available at private clinics at a cost of 900 reais, more than the monthly minimum wage.

At Recife’s IMIP hospital, dozens of soon-to-be mothers wait anxiously for ultrasound scans that will indicate whether the child they are carrying has a shrunken head and damaged brain, a condition called mi-crocephaly. The hospital has already had 160 babies born there with the deformity since August.

“It’s very frightening. I’m worried my daughter will have microcephaly,” says Elisangela Barros, 40, shedding a tear be-hind her thick-rimmed glasses. “My neighbourhood is poor and full of mosquitoes, trash and has no running water. Five of my neighbours have Zika.”

Women like Barros, who live in crowded, muddy slums of Brazil’s chaotic cities, have lit-tle defence against the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries Zika, as well as other diseases such as dengue and yellow fever. They often cannot aff ord insect repellent and have little access to family planning.

Shocking images of babies with birth defects have made many women think twice about getting pregnant.

Doctors worry the outbreak will lead to an increase in dan-gerous clandestine abortions in the majority-Catholic country. Under Brazilian law, terminat-ing pregnancies is illegal except in cases of rape and when the mothers’ life is at risk.

The rapid spread of Zika to 22 countries in the Americas has prompted some governments to advise women to delay having children. El Salvador recom-mended women not get preg-nant for two years.

It has also triggered debate on liberalising abortion in the re-gion, where many countries have strict laws.

“Fear is growing among wom-en because this is a new disease that we know little about. We don’t have many answers,” said Adriana Scavuzzi, a gynaecolo-gist at the IMIP hospital.

World Health Organisation offi cials say there is no scientifi c proof that Zika stunts the de-velopment of the fetus, causing microcephaly, but it is strongly suspected.

Ninety percent of chil-dren born with the condition will have retarded mental and physical development, and will need specialised care for the rest of their lives. There is no certainty what they will be able to see or hear, or when they will learn to walk and talk, Scavuzzi said.

Scavuzzi compared the emergency to the Thalidomide tragedy of the 1960s when thousands of children, mostly in Europe, were born with de-formed limbs due to the use of the pill to help pregnant wom-en with insomnia and morning sickness.

“It will be worse than the Thalidomide generation because then the cause could be with-drawn from the market,” she said. “But how do you withdraw from circulation a mosquito that has lived with us for so long?”

French President Francois Hollande (right) and Cuba’s President Raul Castro attend a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, yesterday. Hollande called on the US to go “all the way” in removing sanctions on Cuba. “President Obama... must, and he’s said it himself, go all the way and bring an end to this vestige of the Cold War,” Hollande told reporters.

Castro in Paris

Official visit

Bolivian police have arrested the man long wanted over the murder of a prominent Bolivian socialist leader, 35 years after the dictatorship-era killing, President Evo Morales said. Former soldier Froilan Molina, alias “Killer,” allegedly murdered Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz and had been on the run since he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the early 1990s. Molina was arrested during a raid on a house in La Paz involving 80 police off icers, the president told a press conference. He had been in hiding for three decades and was sheltering in a bedroom behind a fake wall when he was found. The body of Quiroga Santa Cruz, who was killed in 1980, has never been found.

Colombia said it was investigating reports a Venezuelan patrol boat crossed a border river and exchanged fire with its police. The foreign ministry said the Venezuelan patrol boat was reported to have chased some people in canoes to the Colombian side of the Arauca river, where the exchange of fire occurred. No one was reported injured in the incident late Saturday, it said. The two countries share a 2,219km border, which has been a source of tension since Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro closed border crossings last August in a crackdown on smuggling.

Hundreds of taxi drivers jammed streets in Costa Rica’s capital San Jose yesterday demanding the government block the mobile app for Uber, saying the US-based ride-share company threatens their livelihood. The peak-hour protest echoed anti-Uber actions by taxi drivers in many other countries around the world. Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis has called Uber’s operations “illegal,” a stance he repeated yesterday in an interview with Columbian radio. But he said the issue can’t be resolved with taxis blocking streets, and his government signalled it would not seek to block Uber’s app.

Cuba is launching its first broadband home Internet service in two Havana neighbourhoods as a pilot project aimed at bringing home access to one of the world’s least-connected nations. State telecommunications company ETESCA said it would allow Cubans in Old Havana, the colonial centre that is one of the communist island’s main tourist attractions, internet service through fibre optic connections operated with Chinese telecom firm Huawei. Odalys Rodríguez del Toro, Etesca’s director for Havana, said the government would also begin allowing cafes, bars and restaurants to begin ordering broadband service.

A teenager’s 15th birthday party became the scene of a ghastly massacre in southern Mexico where nine people were fatally shot, including two minors, off icials said yesterday. The shooting occurred Friday at a “quinceanera” coming-of-age celebration in the Mexican state of Guerrero, not far from the border with Michoacan, where drug-related crimes, including homicides, are a regular occurrence. Soldiers and police arriving on the scene were met with a hail of bullets, said Governor Hector Astudillo. Once the gunfire died down, they found the dead bodies of two minors, whose ages were not given, and seven men ranging in age from 18 to 50 years old.

Man wanted over Bolivianleader’s killing arrested

Colombia investigating Venezuela border incident

Costa Rica taxi driversblock roads in Uber protest

Cuba to launch broadbandhome Internet service

Nine killed at teen birthdayparty in southern Mexico

LAW AND ORDER INQUIRYANGER DECISION VIOLENCE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands beside Chilean President Michelle Bachelet at the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago yesterday. Erdogan is on a three-day visit to Chile.

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN19Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Militants and bad weather in northern Afghanistan have ham-pered eff orts to repair power lines that were destroyed last week, cut-ting electricity in the capital, Kabul, to about six hours a day, off icials said yesterday. Insurgents last week destroyed an electricity pylon in the Dand Shahabuddin district of Baghlan province that brought power from Uzbekistan to meet almost half of Kabul’s 600 megawatt daily requirement. Mirwais Alami, chief commercial off icer at Afghanistan’s national power company, said repair crews had been unable to get close to the power lines because of mines and the threat from insurgents and said residents reported that more pylons had been brought down. “Enemy forces have brought ma-chine saws and have been cutting down electricity pylons,” he said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will represent Pakistan at a nuclear summit in March this year when the outgoing Obama administra-tion would try to reach some understanding with recognised and unrecognised nuclear states to control proliferation, off icial sources said yesterday.Earlier this week, Pakistan at-tended a preparatory meeting for the summit in San Francisco.

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaud-hry and ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani represented Pakistan at the meeting.US President Barack Obama will host the fourth and the final Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) on April 1 in Washington.Leaders from 50 countries and international organisations will participate. Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister

Narendra Modi will also be among the leaders expected to attend the meeting.The NSS process has been President Obama’s flagship initia-tive since his first term when he underlined security of nuclear materials as a priority of his ad-ministration.Since then Nuclear Security Sum-mits have taken place in 2010, 2102 and 2104.

Kabul in blackout as govt struggles to fix power lines

Pakistani PM to attend nuclear summit in US

UTILITY

Drought in Pakistan sparks debate over children’s deaths

A non-profi t group has requested a legal probe into a wave of children’s

deaths in southern Pakistan, saying authorities should do more to protect residents from a long-running drought.

“More than 100 children have died since the start of January” in Sindh province, said Shuja Qureshi of Karachi-based Paki-stan Institute of Labour Educa-tion and Research (PILER). “And we do not see any plan to tackle this issue.”

“We sent an urgent applica-tion to the Sindh High Court on January 22 to resume hearing our petition of 2014 for a probe to know the reasons for the deaths,” he said.

Children are apparently dy-ing from malnutrition and lack of medical services in the prov-

ince’s desert district of Thar-parkar.

In 2014, the district saw 250 children’s deaths linked to the problems, he said.

A court order that year to de-termine the extent and causes of the problem was resisted by the provincial arm of the govern-ment of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of former president Asif Ali Zardari.

Offi cials this year defended the authorities’ more recent re-sponse, and said the death count was being infl ated and played for political gain by critics.

“Media is giving exaggerated fi gures,” said Allah Joria, super-intendent of the district admin-istrator offi ce in Tharparkar. “I think they also include deaths of [older] boys and elderly people.”

“So far only 40 (infant) deaths have been reported since the start of January,” Joria said.

The fi gures at the heart of the debate are unclear.

Pakistan’s infant mortal-ity rate is among the highest in the world. The average nation-wide rates, as estimated by the World Bank, would account for around 200 deaths per month of children under one year old in

Tharkparkar, whose population is estimated at 1.5mn.

But families who lost children agree with activists in Thar-parkar that the problem is big-ger than offi cial counts show,

and that authorities are failing to tackle the problem.

“I lost my four-month-old son, Dil Shad, two weeks ago,” resident Yousaf Jarar said. “I know many people who have

buried their kids in the past weeks.”

Jarar’s son was brought to a hospital with pneumonia but died on the same day due to “weakness,” according to the of-

fi cial record, he said. Regular drought since 2011

has killed off livestock and af-fected crops, said Ali Akbar, chief of local health organisa-tion AWARE.

“The drought has added to malnutrition. Newborns are of-ten weak and vulnerable to dis-eases,” he said.

“Last year there was rain but it was not enough and it also came late,” he added.

Sono Khangharani, a local health activist, said “poverty and lack of proper food” is at the heart of the problem, and has been compounded by an inad-equate government response.

“The government is not ready to accept the problem of deaths or malnutrition,” he said.

“There is also the issue of cor-ruption, as medicines meant for poor people are stolen by of-fi cials who sell them to private clinics.”

Poor infrastructure and re-moteness - Tharparkar covers around 22,000 sq km - could be another reason for the deaths, according to Amar Gurior, a local freelance journalist.

But the government said the issue of infant mortality is a con-

spiracy to destabilise it. Joria rejected allegations

that authorities were respond-ing slowly or that aid was inad-equate.

“We do not have shortages of anything. We have enough grains for people and enough medicine to deal with patients,” he said.

According to a report by the Sindh branch of the National Disaster Management Author-ity, from March 2104 to March 2015 the government provided 752,228 bags of wheat fl our to stricken families.

It also provided blankets, food, mosquito nets and other emergency materials. It said 259,946 families were aff ected by the drought.

“In addition to hospitals, the mobile health teams are working in the district to provide medical services,” Joria said.

But such claims are little con-solation to those who have lost children.

“The situation is not good. None of the offi cials came to me with off ers of help when my son was sick and even after the death nobody came to off er fi nancial or material support,” Jarar said.

DPAIslamabad

An NGO in southern Pakistan has demanded a legal probe into the government’s handling of a spike in infant deaths, as a drought in the region reaches its fourth year

According to a report by the Sindh branch of the National Disaster Management Authority 259,946 families have been aff ected by the drought.

Pak-India talks ‘unlikely’ in fi rst week of Feb

The possibility of Paki-stan-India talks being held in the fi rst week

of February now seems to be mostly unrealistic, a leading daily said yesterday, wonder-ing: “Will it take a surprise visit to India by Prime Minister Na-waz Sharif to get the talks back on track?”

An editorial, “Dialogue with

India”, in The News International said if talks between India and Pakistan are delayed, there is no saying when they will restart.

This was seen last summer too after high-level talks between the National Security Advisers of both countries were called off at the last minute.

“It took a rather unorthodox visit to Lahore by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set a talks timeline once again. This was, as we know, disrupted by the Pathankot attack, which In-

dian offi cials blame on elements based in Pakistan,” said the daily.

Pakistan launched a “mini-crackdown on the Jaish-e-Mohamed and asked to join the investigation of the Pathankot attack. The hope was that these measures would result in con-fi dence building and allow the talks to be restarted on an imme-diate basis”.

The daily said that while talks are ongoing with India for convening a meeting of foreign secretaries to start what is be-

ing called a ‘Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue’, it seems the tendency is to rather play to the gallery instead.

“The possibility of talks being held in the fi rst week of February now seems to be mostly unreal-istic.”

It went on to say that one must

hope the delay is not going to be as long as we have seen in the past.

Noting that Pakistan has suf-fered more than India in the war on terrorism, the editorial said that while our priorities may not have always been in the right di-rection, there have been serious attempts at building regional co-operation on the issue of terror-ism over the past years.

“Blaming each other will only lead to a failure of this budding co-operation and, in the long

run, strengthen the hands of ter-rorists who prey on the mistrust India, Pakistan and Afghanistan have of each other.”

The daily wondered: “Will it take a surprise visit to India by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to get the talks back on track?”

“This past Saturday, PM Na-waz promised that Pakistan would soon complete its inves-tigation into the Pathankot at-tack. This would go a long way towards reviving talks between the two countries.”

IANSIslamabad

“Will it take a surprise visit to India by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to get the talks back on track?”

Pakistan seeks more evidence from India

The investigation into the Pathankot airbase terror attack has made no head-

way even after a month as the evidence provided by India is not enough, Pakistan’s probe team has said and has asked Islama-bad to seek more evidence from India.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed a six-member investi-gation team, headed by the ad-ditional inspector general of Punjab’s counter terrorism de-partment, in the second week of January to look into India’s alle-gations that Jaish-e-Mohamed (JeM) was behind the Pathankot terror attack.

“The team has almost com-pleted its investigation into fi ve telephone numbers, allegedly used for making calls from Pa-kistan to India, provided by the Indian government. No further leads were found from these numbers because they were un-registered and had fake identi-ties,” Dawn yesterday quoted a source as saying.

“The probe is not heading fur-ther. The team needs more evi-dence. Therefore, it has written to the government to speak to

India and apprise it of the situa-tion, and demand more evidence to move forward in the investi-gation here,” the source told the daily.

Pakistan would go to “any length” to uncover the alleged misuse of its soil. “It is our re-sponsibility to uncover if our soil was used in the attack. We will do this and the ongoing investi-gation will be completed soon,” the source claimed.

The Foreign Secretary-level talks between the two countries have been put on hold as India wants Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of the attack before going ahead with any bilateral dialogue.

India has maintained that it has provided several proofs to

Pakistan, including call records, which reveal the hand of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar in the Pathankot attack.

Sharif recently admitted that the attack has derailed the Indi-an-Pakistan dialogue.

“Talks with India were pro-gressing but the Pathankot at-tack has aff ected the dialogue process,” he said and added that the fi ndings of the probe will be made public.

“Whatever facts come out, we will bring them forth before eve-ryone.”

Six terrorists stormed the Indian Air Force base in Indian Punjab’s Pathankot town, killing seven security personnel. All the six terrorists were killed by the security forces.

AgenciesIslamabad

Terrorists damaging Kashmir cause

A Pakistani minister has said that Islamabad had always kept the Kashmir dispute on the top of the agenda in its talks with India, but terrorists seem to be toppling it, media reported yesterday.Pervaiz Rashid, the federal minister for information and technology, said on Sunday that

terrorist activities have dealt a serious blow to the Kashmir cause, the Nation reported.The foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India are expected to meet in Islamabad this month to work out the schedule and agenda for talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries later.

Afghan security personnels carry a victim at the site of a suicide car bomb next to a police base in Kabul yesterday.

Taliban suicide bomber strikes Kabul police base

At least 20 policemen were killed yesterday when a Taliban suicide

bomber struck a police base in Kabul, just days before a fresh round of international talks aimed at reviving dialogue with the Islamist group.

Scores of people were also wounded as the attacker blew himself up in a queue of police offi cers waiting to enter the base, leaving several bodies and charred debris strewn around the area.

The carnage marks one of the worst attacks on Afghan forces in recent months, despite a re-newed push international push to restart formal peace talks which stalled last year.

“As a result of the terrorist attack near the Afghan Nation-al Civil Order Police headquar-ters... 20 people were martyred and 29 others were wounded,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

A senior ministry source told AFP that all of those killed were

policemen, and at least three critically wounded offi cers were battling for their lives in hospital.

The health ministry said some of those wounded were hit in the chest by fl ying shrapnel.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, which was cordoned off by authorities after the bomb-ing which comes amid the Tali-ban’s unprecedented winter of-fensive.

The Taliban claimed respon-sibility for the attack, with in-surgent spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claiming on Twitter that up to 40 police were killed and wounded.

The militants routinely exag-gerate the toll in attacks on the Afghan government.

The carnage comes just ahead of a third round of four-country “roadmap talks” trying to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between Kabul and the Islamist group.

Delegates from Afghani-stan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to con-vene in Islamabad on February 6 in a bid to seek a negotiated end to the Taliban insurgency,

now in its fifteenth year. The Taliban have stepped up

attacks on government and for-eign targets in Afghanistan this winter, when fi ghting usually abates, underscoring a worsen-ing security situation.

In recent months the Taliban briefl y captured the northern city of Kunduz, the fi rst urban centre to fall to the insurgents, and have seized territory in the opium-growing southern province of Helmand.

Observers say the intensi-fying insurgency highlights a push by the militants to seize more territory in an attempt to wrangle greater concessions during talks.

Pakistan — the Taliban’s historic backers — hosted a milestone fi rst round of talks directly with the Taliban in July.

But the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belat-edly confi rmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar, sparking infi ghting within the group.

The fi rst and second round of the four-country talks were held last month in Islamabad and Kabul respectively.

AFPKabul

Messi to meet young Afghan fan

Barcelona star Lionel Messi will meet an Afghan boy who gained Internet fame

after a touching series of pho-tographs went viral, showing him playing in a shirt improvised from a plastic bag and bearing the name and playing number of his hero.

Five-year-old Murtaza, from a poor family in the Jaghori dis-trict in the central province of Ghazni, became an unlikely In-ternet sensation after the pic-tures were shared on Facebook and other social media sites.

Unable to get a real Messi shirt, Murtaza’s brother had rigged him up a plastic bag in the light blue and white colours of the Argentinian national team, with “Messi” and the number “10” written on it in marker pen.

The pictures were shared around the world and the Af-ghan Football Federation said on its website yesterday it was in contact with representatives of Messi and would arrange for Murtaza to meet the player soon.

Last month, Messi won the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best player for the fi fth time.

ReutersKabul

Five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi, a young Lionel Messi fan, plays football in Kabul yesterday.

PHILIPPINES

Gulf TimesTuesday, February 2, 201620

Court orders senator’s arrest over libel case Manila TimesManila

A Makati City court yester-day ordered the arrest of Senator Antonio Trillanes

in connection with a libel case fi led against him by dismissed Makati City mayor Jejomar Er-win “Junjun” Binay Jr.

Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 142 Judge Dina Teves found probable cause to try the case and issued a warrant of arrest against Trillanes, ac-cording to Maricel Cairo, Makati RTC Clerk of Court.

The senator was slapped with the libel complaint for claiming that two justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) received P50mn in exchange for issuance of a tem-porary restraining order (TRO) stopping implementation of a suspension order against the mayor.

Binay, in his complaint fi led in

April 2015, described Trillanes’ allegations as “malicious.”

The Binay camp earlier said Trillanes could not invoke par-liamentary immunity because he made the baseless allegations outside Congress.

“Trillanes cannot cower be-hind the doctrine of parliamen-tary immunity. His malicious and scurrilous accusations re-garding the fi ctitious bribery charges against Mayor Binay were made in public, outside the halls of the Senate,” Claro Certe-za, Binay’s legal counsel, said.

Certeza noted that Trillanes did not make the accusations during a congressional inquiry.

“Moreover, it was not made in relation to the discharge of his functions as a senator. It is ap-parent that his motivation is to besmirch the reputation of the Binay family and destroy the in-tegrity of the judiciary. He must be held accountable,” he said.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said

Trillanes has immunity from ar-rest when Congress is in session.

However, if Trillanes fails to post bail by next week when Congress adjourns, he can be ar-rested.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said policemen will arrest Trillanes once the police agency gets a copy of the warrant.

“We are ready to serve the warrant of arrest once we re-ceive it. As of now we still don’t have a copy of the warrant of arrest against Senator Tril-lanes,” PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor said in a news briefing in Camp Crame in Quezon City.

“We don’t have any choice but to serve the warrant to the accused (whether) he is a sena-tor or a government official,” Mayor added.

Trillanes said he is ready to face the charges filed against him.

The senator’s lawyer, Rey-

naldo Robles, said his client will voluntarily submit himself to the jurisdiction of the court when he arrives from a trip abroad.“We have not received our official copy of the investi-gating prosecutor’s resolution, but if it is true that she (Judge Teves) recommended the filing of an information for libel in court, Sen. Trillanes will read-ily face the charges against him in court,” Robles added.

“Unfortunately, Sena-tor Trillanes is on official trip abroad attending an interna-tional forum,” he said.

The senator, Robles added, is considering filing a motion for reconsideration at the Depart-ment of Justice (DOJ).

“Needless to state, this is without prejudice to the sena-tor’s right to file a motion for reconsideration or even ap-peal the said resolution to the Department of Justice, if war-ranted by the circumstances,”

the lawyer said.Robles noted that he is confident that any attempt to intimidate his client will not succeed.

“In 2003, Sen. Trillanes was jailed for exposing anomalies in the government. I believe he is ready to face any consequence, including facing malicious cas-es and possible imprisonment, just to let the people know the truth regarding the massive corruption in Makati,” he said.

In a text message, Trillanes affirmed his readiness to con-tinue his personal crusade to expose the truth about the massive anomalies in Makati.

“If the Binay family believes that I can be intimidated and threatened from exposing them, they are badly mistaken. I will do everything I can to make sure that plunderers will not rule this country again,” the senator said.

“I will not allow thieves to lead our country,” he added.

Workers install Chinese lantern decorations in preparation for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations, in Chinatown in Manila yesterday.

Getting ready for Chinese New Year celebrations MILF will no longer ‘surrender’ fi rearms By Joel M Sy EgcoManila Times

Congress’ failure to pass the controversial Bangsamoro Basic Law

(BBL) means that the Moro Is-lamic Liberation Front (MILF) will no longer “surrender” its fi rearms in its inventory through “decommissioning” similar to what the group did in June last year, according to Malacanang.

The statement was issued yesterday, a day after a Palace official announced that they have practically lost all hopes to see the enactment of the measure that aims to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with a Bangsamoro political entity.

According to Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr, Palace peace adviser Teresita Quin-tos Deles had said that the decommissioning of firearms by the MILF will be held in abeyance pending the pas-sage of the BBL.

MILF officials previously said that decommissioning is only an “obligation on their part” if the BBL is passed.

“The political-legal track centred on the passage of the BBL is at the heart of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). There is no full implementa-tion of the CAB, specifically, no further decommission-ing beyond the first batch of 145-until the law is passed,” the Palace spokesman quoted Deles as saying.

In June 2015, 75 MILF fire-arms were turned over to the government while 145 com-batants returned to the fold of law.

The CAB, which was signed in March 2014, provides that the normalisation compo-nent of the peace pact takes place alongside the politi-cal component. The decom-missioning of MILF fighters and firearms is part of the normalisation component in terms of addressing the se-curity aspect of the former

combatants’ allegiance to the republic. The CAB also stip-ulates socio-development programmes, confidence-building measures such as the transformation of camps into peaceful communities, the grant of amnesty and the creation of a reconciliation committee.

Had the BBL been passed, the next phase of the decom-missioning process would have involved the “surren-der” of 30% of the MILF forces, consisting of firearms and fighters.

Deles had said their next step is to strengthen mecha-nisms for smooth transition to the Bangsamoro as the MILF will continue to hold on to their guns.

“So what we are doing is strengthening the mecha-nisms for the peaceful tran-sition from the ARMM to the Bangsamoro, which is the core of the roadmap for the full settlement of the armed conflict,” she added.

Under the agreement, the third phase will involve de-commissioning 65% of the MILF forces once the Bang-samoro Transition Authority (BTA) has been established.

The fourth and last phase, originally planned to take place after the election of of-ficials of the new Bangsam-oro entity, will involve the decommissioning of all MILF forces.

On Sunday, Coloma yield-ed to the fact that there is no longer time to pass the BBL under the administration of President Benigno Aquino.

This prompted the Palace to recalibrate its tack and prepare for the BBL’s transi-tion to the next administra-tion.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr, acting on orders of President Aquino, has directed government peace negotiators to craft an action plan with all stake-holders during the “transi-tion period.”

“The president has direct-ed the Office of the Presi-dential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) to firm up, in consultation with stake-holders an action plan for promoting the peace process in the transition period dur-ing the remainder of the cur-rent administration’s term and up to the assumption of the next administration,” Coloma explained.

Senate panel recommends plunder rap against Binay Manila TimesManila

The Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee yesterday formally sponsored its

partial committee report on the alleged anomalies involving Vice President Jejomar Binay when he was mayor of the Makati City.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel, the chairman of the sub-com-mittee, sponsored the 46-page partial report, containing the fi ndings and recommendation of the panel, in plenary.

The panel recommended the fi ling of plunder charges against the vice president, his son, oust-ed Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr, the members of the Bids and Awards Committee that conducted the bidding for the Makati City Building 2, the executives of the contractor that won the bidding and the owner of the architectural and design fi rm tapped for the project.

The committee also found that the project was overpriced by P1.1bn to P1.3bn.

“In the opinion of the sub-committee, all the elements of the crime of plunder have been clearly alleged and substantiat-

ed though the unequivocal and straightforward assertions, un-der oath, of the witnesses who have appeared before us during the hearings as well as from the documents already in the pos-session of the sub-committee,” the report said.

The sub-committee also recommended among others, the transmission of the copy of the report to the Office of the President, Commission on Au-dit, Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Jejomar Binay: under scrutiny

Filipina in Honduras suspected to be infected with Zika virus By Francis Earl CuetoManila Times

A Filipino in Honduras was reported to have been infected with the Zika

virus but the Department of Health (DOH) is yet to confi rm it.

DOH spokesman Dr Lyndon Lee Suy yesterday said offi cials are co-ordinating with their counterparts in Honduras.

“We are still validating re-ports that one of the Zika cases in Honduras involves a Filipi-

na,” Suy told an interview over GMA News.

The offi cial gave assurances that measures are in place to screen travellers who may be infected with the virus.

He said thermal scanners at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport are being used to moni-tor the temperature of arriving passengers.

“Screening is ongoing. What is being monitored is the body temperature. Since one of the manifestations of Zika is fever, if you have just come from Latin America or other countries af-

fected by the virus, you will undergo further examination,” Lee-Suy added.

If a passenger tests positive for the Zika virus, he or she will be given medication and con-fi ned in a hospital by the DOH.

The Health department said a Zika case was reported in the country in 2012.

Lee Suy said the DOH will implement the same approach that it used in controlling den-gue to prevent the spread of Zika in the country.

He urged Filipinos to imme-diately consult a doctor if they

have the symptoms of Zika vi-rus, which are also similar with fl u and dengue fever.

The World Health Organisa-tion’s emergency committee was to debate later whether a Zika virus outbreak suspected of causing a surge in serious birth defects in South America should be considered a global health emergency.

The UN health agency warned last week that the mos-quito-borne virus was “spread-ing explosively” in the Ameri-cas, with the region expected to see up to 4mn cases this year.

“The political-legal track centred on the passage of the BBL is at the heart of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB)”

The number of persons arrested for violation of the nationwide election gun ban breached the 500 mark yesterday with most of those nabbed being civilians, according to police data, Manila Times reported.Figures from the National Election Monitoring and Action Center (NEMAC) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday said a total of 533 individuals have been apprehended by the police for gun ban violation since it took eff ect last January 10.The PNP-NEMAC figures said of the 533 arrested, 514 were civilians, three policemen,

four elected government off icials, seven security guards, two militiamen and four members of other law enforcement agencies such as the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).According to the same figures, since the elec-tion gun ban took eff ect police were able to seize a total of 323 assorted firearms and 3,173 deadly weapons at more than a thousand checkpoints set up by the police across the country.NEMAC said the police have also seized in the checkpoints 12 firearms replica, 14 grenades,

seven types of explosives and 3,140 assorted ammunition for diff erent types of firearms.The PNP spokesman, Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, said the election gun ban is part of the security measures being implemented by the government to ensure that the coming synchronised national and local elections will be orderly and peaceful.Mayor added that the gun ban violators will be facing charges under the Omnibus Elec-tion Code and a penalty of up to six years of imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from public service.

514 civilians among those arrested by police over gun ban violation CRIME

SRI LANKA/BANGLADESH/NEPAL21

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Eight injured as Madhesi protesters, police clashAt least eight people, in-

cluding four Madhesi protesters and as many

policemen, were injured yes-terday when a clash erupted be-tween them during a protest by the United Democratic Madhesi Front in Nepal’s Janakpur city, 225 kms from Kathmandu.

Police barred a group of Unit-ed Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) cadres who were al-legedly vandalising the house of Nepali Congress leader and parliament member Lila Koirala at Bharmapuri in Janakpur city.

The UDMF had planned to foil the selection process of Nepali Congress booth representatives as part of the 13th general con-

vention of the main opposition party and yesterday’s attack was part of the protests.

Police were mobilised from early yesterday morning soon after the UDMF cadres be-gan protesting in front of NC leaders’ houses in Janakpur.

“We had to use force after the protesters started pelting petrol bombs at us,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Nakul Pokharel said.

Police fi red seven rounds of tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters. The injured persons were admitted to Janaki Medical College.

Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, demand de-marcation of provinces, fi x-ing of electoral constituen-cies on the basis of population

and proportional representation. Life in southern plains have

been seriously hit for the past fi ve months due to the Mad-hesi stir, blocking key trade points with India and leading to shortage of supplies.

Madhesis are opposed to the new constitution that they claim divides their ancestral homeland under the seven-province structure and have led an ongoing blockade of key border trade points with India.

The agitating community is demanding demarcation of provinces, fi xing of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportion-al representation, and have launched a protest for months that has claimed more than 50 lives.

AgenciesKathmandu

Nepal Madhesi delegates waiting to meet the leader of India’s Bihar state, Lalu Prasad Yadav, in Patna yesterday. The Madhesis share close ethnic, cultural and historical ties with the state.

Wife of Rajapakse quizzed over fraud charges

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse’s wife Shiranthi Rajapakse was

yesterday interrogated by inves-tigators over fraud allegationse.

Shiranthi appeared before the Presidential Commission of In-quiry into Serious Acts of Fraud and Corruption (PRECIFAC) over allegations that she had in-structed the housing ministry to allocate a house to her media secretary during her husband’s presidency, Xinhua news agency reported.

It has been alleged that a house valued at 5.5mn rupees ($37,900) was off ered to her co-ordinating secretary for 500,000 rupees.

The couple has denied all the allegations against them and blamed the new government.

Mahinda Rajapakse was de-feated by his one-time health minister Maithripala Sirisena in the presidential election last year.

Since the election of Sirisena and his new government, high-ranking members of the previ-ous government, including Ra-japakse and his family, have all been under a corruption probe.

Rajapakse’s second son, Yos-hitha Rajapakse, was arrested and remanded for two weeks on Sunday for alleged fraud at the Carlton Sports Network (CSN), a Sri Lankan sports, lifestyles and business TV channel.

The CSN is alleged to have been owned by the Rajapakses and has been in the centre of a row after allegations of corrup-tion and fraud surfaced through a probe.

Yoshitha Rajapakse has been charged under the Money Laundering Act.

IANSColombo

Bangladesh economy to grow by 6.3%: IMF

The Bangladesh econo-my will grow by 6.3% in the current fi nan-

cial year to end-June, the In-ternational Monetary Fund said yesterday, lower than the government target of 7%.

IMF said Bangladesh’s growth is projected to accel-erate gradually to 7% over the medium term, as public in-vestment is further ramped up and constraints on investment ease, with private investment also supporting a recovery in private-sector credit.

“Provided calm prevails, prudent policies remain in place, and structural reforms are implemented as envisaged, the medium-term economic outlook should be positive and marked by continued stabil-ity and high growth,” IMF said after a midterm review.

Infl ation is forecast to re-main broadly stable in the cur-rent fi nancial year and edge up slightly next fi scal year, due to temporary eff ects from higher public sector wages and the introduction of new VAT.

“Growth has been robust, external reserves have risen, infl ation has abated, and so-cial indicators have improved,” it said.

With infl ation risks tilted to the upside, IMF recom-mended continued vigilance and prudent adjustment of the reserve money growth.

It also encouraged the Bangladesh authorities to continue sterilised foreign

exchange intervention and consider adopting a basket of trading partners’ currencies to guide foreign exchange inter-vention policy going forward.

Foreign exchange re-serves slip: Bangladesh’s for-eign exchange reserves edged down to nearly $27.14bn by January-end from a record high of $27.49bn in the previ-ous month, but were up 23% from a year earlier, the central bank said yesterday.

A senior central bank of-fi cial attributed the drop in January to a rise in imports; the reserves are enough to cover more than seven months of imports.

Garment exports and re-mittances from Bangladeshis working overseas - two main-stay revenue generators - have helped foreign exchange re-serves grow steadily in recent years.

Bangladesh’s exports in July-December, the fi rst half of the current fi nancial year, rose 7.8% to $16.1bn from the previous year, led by strong garment sales as the key in-dustry is trying to repair its safety image after several fatal accidents.

Last month, the cen-tral bank cut its key inter-est rates by half a percent-age point for the fi rst time in nearly three years as cooling infl ation gives it more ma-noeuvring room to help spur economic growth.

The central bank expects economic growth to reach 7%, picking up from 6.51% in the previous year when political unrest crippled the economy.

ReutersDhaka

Cabinet nod for expanding scope of dual citizenship

The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of the Bangladesh citi-

zenship bill 2016, expanding the existing scope of having dual citizenship by expatriate Bangladeshis.

The approval means expa-triate Bangladeshis staying in countries with which Bangla-desh has diplomatic ties, except those states prohibited through the Bangladesh government’s gazette notifi cation, would be able to get dual citizenships.

Briefi ng reporters after the meeting, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafi ul Alam said the law also has a provision of fi ne up to 100,000 taka or fi ve years’ imprisonment or both for persons taking citizenship by giving false information and keeping facts hidden.

The cabinet secretary said the proposed law has been re-arranged after reviewing two existing laws -the Citizen-ship Act 1951 and the Bangla-desh Citizenship Temporary Provisions Order 1972.

He said the law also fea-tures the process for gaining, renouncing and dissolution of citizenship.

Shafi ul Alam said the law expanded the scope for getting dual citizenship since the ex-patriate Bangladeshis staying in the United States and Britain have long been enjoying such a facility.

According to the draft law, judges of the Supreme Court, members of parliament, per-sons holding the position of the constitutional posts as well as civil servants and members of the armed forces will not get dual citizenship, he said.

He said the draft law has a provision of providing and re-

instating the citizenships of Bangladesh to foreign nation-als, but those nationals will not be able to contest any parlia-ment election or election to the post of president, contest the local government polls or form political party, would not be-come Supreme Court judges or get appointment in any post of the country.

Shafi ul Alam said any foreign national could be given honor-ary Bangladeshi citizenship for his or her special qualifi cations in social, science, literature, world peace, human develop-ment and cultural sector or making important contribu-tions towards Bangladesh’s development.

He said any foreign national will have to stay in Bangladesh for at least fi ve years from the existing provision of four years in case of getting Bangladeshi citizenship for matrimonial relations.

Except dual citizenship, if anyone shows allegiance di-rectly or indirectly to other countries, participate in any force in any country and sup-port that force against any war against Bangladesh, illegal mi-grants living in Bangladesh and those who showed allegiance to other countries except Bangla-desh will not get Bangladeshi citizenship, he said.

Shafi ul Alam said any Bang-ladeshi citizen can renounce his or her citizenship applying to the government of Bangla-desh following the procedure specifi ed in the draft law.

However, the government could reinstate the citizenship of the nationals after reviewing the applications of those who had earlier renounced their Bangladeshi citizenships.

The meeting also decided to observe March 10 as the Na-tional Disaster Preparedness Day every year.

By Mizan RahmanDhaka

Shiranthi Rajapakse

Sri Lankan army soldiers standing guard next to an armoured vehicle as they were preparing for Sri Lanka’s 68th Independence Day celebrations in Colombo yesterday. Sri Lankans will celebrate the Independence Day on February 4.

Preparing for Independence Day Lanka takes stake in Google balloon Internet venture

Sri Lanka’s government announced yesterday it would take a 25%

stake in a joint venture with Google designed to deliver a high-speed Internet serv-ice powered by balloons and that tests would begin this month.

Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Minister Harin Fernando said Google has taken deliv-ery in Sri Lanka of the giant helium-fi lled balloons and other equipment needed to carry out tests across the island.

“The tests will start later this month at Ratmalana (a suburb of the capital Colom-bo) and could last up to a year,” Fernando told reporters.

“The government of Sri Lanka will have a 25% stake in the (joint-venture) company in return for the spectrum that will be allocated for the project,” the minister added in Colombo.

Fernando said there would be no other capital investment by Sri Lanka, but 10% of the joint venture would be off ered to existing telephone service providers in the island.

The minister said most of the Internet service pro-viders on the island were in favour of what is known as Google’s “Project Loon” that will extend their coverage and

off er cheaper rates for data services.

“Our objective is to extend coverage so that the entire island will be covered,” Fern-ando said. “With competition, tariff s will also come down.”

Service providers will be able to access higher speeds and improve the quality of their existing service once the balloon project is up and running.

The balloons, once in the stratosphere, will be twice as high as commercial airlin-ers and barely visible to the naked eye. The balloons will have a lifespan of about 180 days, but can be recycled, said Fernando who visited Google’s testing facility at Silicon Valley.

Offi cial fi gures show there are 3.3mn mobile Internet connections and 630,000 fi xed line Internet subscribers among Sri Lanka’s more than 20mn population.

Sri Lanka became the fi rst country in South Asia to in-troduce mobile phones in 1989 and the fi rst to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the fi rst in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago.

AFPColombo

“The government of Sri Lanka will have a 25% stake in the (joint-venture) company in return for the spectrum that will be allocated for the project”IT exhibition opens in Kathmandu

Hundreds of people have descended on Kath-mandu’s exhibition hall

where the 22nd edition of the mega exposition on information technology is taking place.

With the numbers comprising a majority of young information technology enthusiasts, the an-nual expo has emerged as one of the largest crowd-pullers in recent years here. The popular exhibition will end tomorrow, Xinhua reports.

One young attendee, Suman Mulla, a business administration student, said, “As it is my fi rst

ever visit to the exposition, I am exploring many new things.”

The six-day exhibition is showcasing a wide range of goods and services related to information and communica-tions technologies (ICT) under a single umbrella comprising 180 booths.

Deepak Sundas, a student of engineering, found the exhi-bition important, not only to observe the latest technolo-gies, but also to make some purchases, with traders selling their goods and services at dis-counted rates.

Both domestic and foreign goods and services are on dis-play at the exhibition and one of the biggest attractions for visi-

tors is the mobile apps section, with the technology developed by local companies.

Janaki Technologies, a Nepali company, has developed an app which informs people about exam results, arranges sched-ules, provides details about gov-ernment services, tracks stocks and commodities, and details the prices of daily essentials, as well as providing entertainment and news content.

Foreign companies are also widely represented through their local dealers at the exhibition. Huawei, for example, a Chinese company, which is the second-largest sponsor of the event, has displayed its latest smartphones and smart watches, much to the

delight and fascination of the attendees.

A Taiwan-based company is also showcasing its smart watches, boasting a number of smartphone-derived features, with the wearable technology priced at just $32.

Many of the stalls are related to mobile phones and a number of them are also displaying solar technology, as Nepal has been facing a duel energy crisis re-garding both electricity and fuel of late.

For Binod Dhakal, the presi-dent of the Federation of Com-puter Association of Nepal (CAN Federation), which organised the CAN Into-Tech expo, said the expo has always focused on

introducing the development of the ICT sector.

He said that increased access to mobile and Internet technol-ogy in recent years has contrib-uted to the growing popularity of the event.

The organiser expects visitors to top 400,000 people this year compared to 2,700 people when the fi rst edition was held back in 1995, the federation said.

Nepal Telecommunications Authority, the main telecom service in Nepal said that its mo-bile phone market penetration has increased by 102% regarding sim card distribution, and ac-cess to the Internet has reached 44% of the population as of mid-October 2015.

IANSKathmandu

It used to be a running joke when players won the fi rst Grand Slam event of the year that they would be asked, at some stage in their post-match press conference, whether they thought they might be able to win the calendar year Grand Slam. When it comes to Novak Djokovic, though, it is a serious question.

No man has managed to win all four majors, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, in the same year since Rod Laver did it for a second time in 1969. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic himself have all managed three in one year but all found the complete set one step too far. The demands of the modern game, experts said, make the Grand Slam almost impossible but suddenly, in the era of Novak, it seems possible once more.

It was fi tting that Laver should be there to see Djokovic move alongside him and Bjorn Borg in the all-time list of Grand Slam champions with 11. That puts him fi fth equal, with just Roy Emerson, whose record of six Australian Opens he matched, on 12, Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal on 14 and

Federer still out on his own at 17.

Though he won his fi rst Grand Slam title

in 2008, in Australia, it took Djokovic three more years to win his second , again in Melbourne. Since then, he’s won nine of the past 20 Grand Slams, as dominant as anyone has been in the game’s history. He has won four of the past fi ve Grand Slams, his only disappointment coming at the French Open last summer, where he lost in the fi nal to Stan Wawrinka.

It still takes an awful lot to achieve the Grand Slam. Not only does it require staying fi t and healthy, avoiding injury, it also needs a bit of luck and for no one else to have a hot streak, as Wawrinka did in Paris. At 28, Djokovic is still improving, and if anyone can do it, it’s the Serb.

In Australia, on a surface he loves, Djokovic seems unbeatable. Against Murray he ran through the fi rst set and then, when Murray upped the ante on his groundstrokes in the second and third sets, he used his incredible athleticism to nullify the threat.

In reaching 17 straight fi nals, across the regular Tour and Grand Slams, Djokovic has compiled a 92-5 record, equalling Federer’s record in 2006, the year he dominated the Tour like no other.

Federer’s attempts to win the Grand Slam were always denied by Nadal at the French Open, the only one of the Slams Djokovic has still to conquer. On this form, it is going to take something special to stop him and at this rate, Federer must be wondering if Djokovic could overtake his record of 17 Slam titles.

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If anyone can do it, it’s the Serb

The talks, which should have started on January 25 were postponed to last Friday because of disagreements and uncertainty about the participants

By Harun Yahya Istanbul

All eyes have turned to the

Geneva III peace conference on Syria. Representatives of the Assad regime are expected to meet with the opposition at the conference, where a road map to peace is expected to be drawn up. However, the continuing uncertainty and turmoil in Syria have been refl ected in these negotiations. The talks, which should have started on January 25 were postponed to last Friday because of disagreements and uncertainty about the participants. On Friday, however, opposition groups refused to take part because their preconditions had not been met.

The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), an opposition platform established in Saudi Arabia in December last year, had asked the UN for various conditions to be met in order for the opposition delegation to attend the Geneva talks. The three main points were an end to aerial bombing, the release of political detainees and the lifting of the blockade of civilian areas by regime forces, particularly Madaya.

At fi rst, since no response to the demands was forthcoming from the UN, the committee announced it would not be attending Geneva III. Later, they were given guarantees for the meeting of their conditions by the UN and US Secretary of State John Kerry, and they decided to attend the talks on subsequent days.

Under these conditions, only the Assad regime delegation, headed by UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, attended the fi rst day of the Syria talks on Friday.

One of the main subjects of debate regarding the talks was whether or not the PYD, the Syrian branch of the PKK group, should be invited to the talks.

Turkey stood fi rm in its intention to boycott the talks in the event that PYD representatives were invited to them, on the grounds that PYD is exactly the same terror organisation as the PKK and is in blatant collaboration with the Assad regime.

During an interview with Christiane Amanpour from CNN TV at Davos last Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said this on the subject of the PYD being invited to the Geneva talks: “We want Syrian Kurds around the table (in Geneva). Without Syrian Kurds, the table cannot be complete. Why we are against the YPG? The YPG is an extension of the PKK, a terrorist organisation, recognised as a terrorist organisation not only by Turkey, by the EU, and by the US.”

Asked by Amanpour, “You may call them terrorists, the EU may call them terrorists. But the US has been working with them. They are the ground force. So is it time to recognise reality?”, Davutoglu replied: “Those who are recognising them as a legitimate partner, they do not live in the reality of the region. Nobody can convince us that these people are for peace.”

The PYD was duly not invited to Geneva III. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius issued a statement saying, “Mr (Staff an) de Mistura (UN special envoy for Syria) sent invitations ... the PYD group was causing the most problems, and Mr de Mistura told me he had not sent them an invitation letter.”

Indeed, a report dated January 18 by the SNHR (Syrian Network for Human Rights) concerning blatant violations by the PYD of the human rights of civilians in areas it had occupied since its foundation confi rmed Turkey’s worries regarding this group.

The report contained photographs, videos and witness statements

concerning countless human rights violations by the PYD, from ethnic cleansing to arbitrary detentions, and from forcing people, particularly children, to take up arms as well as driving local Arab and Turkmen populations from their homes.

According to the report, some striking features of the inhuman actions perpetrated by the organisation in parts of the north and northeast of Syria that the regime forces had pulled out of and handed over to the PYD in 2012 include:

Ninety-one civilians, including seven women and seventeen children, were killed in massacres in 2013 and 2014 in al-Aghabeesh, Tal Barak, al-Hajiya and Tal Khalil in Al Hassaka governorate.

PYD forces arbitrarily detained not less than 1,651 people in various parts of Al Hassaka.

More than 16 people died under torture.

A local media activist’s family confi rmed their son’s death under torture on July 15, 2014.

A 44-year-old woman was killed in the village of al-Hajiya together with her six children on September 13th, 2013.

The YPG, the military wing of the PYD, has forced women from al-Hassaka, al-Qameshli and Efreen to join the organisation, with 88 women, 34 of them still minors, being arrested between 2014 and October 2015.

As of December 31, 2015, PYD forces had killed 51 children, either by sniper fi re or by random shootings. Up until November 20th, 2015, 111 children had been arbitrarily detained, while 1,876 children had been forcibly recruited into the YPG forces.

PYD forces have forced thousands of people from their homes by destroying 30 small towns and villages, mostly Arab, in Al Hassaka.

The report also describes how Turkmens interviewed have had to move to other parts of the country due to violence, injustice, torture and oppression at the hands of PYD forces, after which they fl ed to Turkey to escape the harsh conditions there.

The list of similar inhuman measures in the report goes on, accompanied by documents and witness statements describing crimes against humanity and terror actions committed by the YPG and PKK in Iraq.

These are the concrete facts about the PYD, which certain global forces are using as proxies for their own interests and plans in the region, and which explains why they are supporting the organisation and trying to cover up its crimes. Yet these incidents, which appear in offi cial records, are only a very small part of the total.

Meanwhile, in the latest reports, it emerged that PYD co-president Saleh Muslim, Syrian Democratic Council co-leaders Haytham Manna and Ilham Ahmed and the former Syrian minister and opposition leader Qadri Jamil secretly met with a special team from UN envoy de Mistura last Thursday. At the meeting, de Mistura’s team apparently told the PYD that even if it is not at Geneva for the first round, it would be there for the second round sessions, and told them just to wait for about two or three weeks.

This initiative may at fi rst sight be interpreted by some people that with backing from the US, Britain and Russia, the UN is trying to establish a balance among the participants but one should avoid unnecessary optimism and remember the fact that an organisation, considered by terrorist by many countries, may be one of the interlocutors. While the UN and national powers seem to be searching for various formulae and arrangements to ensure that Geneva III goes ahead without the Syrian opposition and Turkey boycotting the talks, developments should be carefully monitored to make sure that the PYD, the same as the PKK, does not take part in the talks.

Readers will recall that a few months ago the UN signed a resolution allowing all member countries to take part in the war in Syria without securing the approval of the government. The days ahead will show whether in the wake of that resolution, the latest initiatives really bring a solution to the devastated people of Syria or whether they are merely impositions of the interests of various global powers to carve up the region for their own benefi t.

Harun Yahya has authored more than 300 books on politics, religion and science, translated in 73 languages. He may be followed at @Harun_Yahya and www.harunyahya.com

Will the Geneva talks really produce a solution to Syria?

Falling oil prices mean cheaper air fares By Luc OlingaAFP/New York

Plummeting oil prices have led to falling plane ticket prices - and prospects for an even bigger bonanza of consumer-

friendly fares in the coming months, airline industry experts say.

With fuel prices down by two-thirds from the dizzying heights of mid-2014, when oil topped $100 per barrel, the once cash-strapped airline industry is now reaping record profi ts.

Increased competition also have helped coax down once stubbornly high fares, the experts say.

“We’ve seen typical domestic prices drop about 14% over the past year,” Patrick Surry, chief data scientist at Hopper, the airfare prediction app, told AFP.

“The drop in fuel prices is a major factor, along with increasing competition from low cost carriers, both domestically and internationally,” Surry said.

Experts say fuel makes up about a third of an airline’s costs. With oil and

jet fuel costs down two-thirds since last year, airlines can expect to reduce their overhead by about 20%.

Some of the best bargains are for air fares to popular US travel destinations like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, cities where competition is stiff .

Good deals can also be had on routes to the southwestern US energy centres of Houston and Dallas, where the slowdown in the oil business has led to discounted air fares.

Some companies said they are using the windfall in fuel costs to reduce debt and to make needed reinvestment in their infrastructure.

“We are utilising our cash to continue to secure our future,” said Gerry Laderman, senior vice president at United Airlines.

“In 2015, we prepaid $1.2bn of debt, including $300mn in the fourth quarter.”

Likewise, Richard Anderson, CEO at Delta, said of his company: “Our focus on our long-term goals is unwavering. We will continue to reinvest in the business at an appropriate level to sustain long-term growth.”

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics in a report last month said air fares by foreign travellers on US airlines fell 15.0% in 2015, the largest calendar-year drop since the index was fi rst published in 1987.

The decline in ticket prices was steepest for air travel to Latin American and Caribbean (down 17.8%), but there were also big drops in fares to Asia (down 14.6%) and Europe (down 11.7%).

Travel industry experts said that the relatively low prices were likely to continue throughout 2016, including an anticipated 23% drop in the price of air fares to Rio this summer, just in time for the Olympic games.

But there will be plenty of bargains for those travelling to other destinations as well, said Scott Kirby, president of American Airlines.

“There’s lots of low fares in the market,” the airline CEO told reporters.

“Consumers are having a fi eld day in this environment,” he said.

American, which emerged from bankruptcy two years ago, is just one of several major airlines posting record

profi ts over the last few quarters. Not all of airlines’ fuel cost savings

have gone back into the pockets of passengers, however.

“Of course, there’s no reason that they have to pass this (the savings) directly to consumers,” said Surry.

But even with some companies pocketing or reinvesting a good deal of the savings, they “are defi nitely trickling down,” he said. And the high-fl ying airline industry is likely to continue passing along a good portion of their saving, experts said.

“So long as we avoid full recession, US airlines are likely to see yet another historic year of profi tability in 2016,” said David Fintzen, an aviation analyst with Barclays.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) noted that the picture is not entirely rosy.

Some airlines, it said, will not benefi t from the full impact of falling fuel prices because of a sharp rise in the value of the US dollar in recent months.

Some airlines have been hurt by hedging policies that led them to lock in future fuel supplies at higher prices.

Djokovic looks best bet to win all majors in a year Turkey stood fi rm

in its intention to boycott the talks in the event that PYD representatives were invited to them

High Negotiations Committee (HNC) spokesman Riyad Naasan Agha, of Syria’s main opposition body, briefing the press upon his arrival on January 30 in Geneva for Syrian peace talks.

COMMENT

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 2016 23

Asprey’s diet is now one of the most popular in the US, where a third of the population of some 320mn is obese

By Sara PuigLos Angeles

A new coff ee diet claiming to help lose weight and improve IQ is gaining a major follow-ing in the US - and raising

eyebrows among doctors sceptical of its benefi ts.

Dave Asprey, the founder and CEO of the “Bulletproof Diet”, pulls no punches when making claims for his radical health recipe, cup of coff ee in hand.

“You become a better employee, better parent, better friend, better person,” said the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur now living in Canada. “My energy changes, my brain changes. I can pay attention, I can fol-low through.”

The cornerstone of Asprey’s diet is a drink called Bulletproof Coff ee, a modifi ed version of the caff einated beverage which uses beans stripped of mycotoxins - essentially mold that forms during the fermentation proc-ess.

Add to that butter from grass-fed cows and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil.

The ingredients are blended to-gether to produce a creamy, naturally sweet beverage a bit like a milkshake, taken at breakfast in lieu of a meal.

“So you drink a couple of these and all of a sudden you don’t care about food for a very long time,” said Asprey. “Your brain has energy that doesn’t come from sugar, you didn’t want sugar in your coff ee and you lose the craving and you sort of have freedom.”

Asprey used to weigh 300 pounds, and spent much of his life battling to lose weight.

The coff ee diet idea came to him during a trip to Tibet in 2004. He was weak with altitude sickness while travelling in the mountainous region - until he drank yak butter tea.

Asprey was so impressed by the en-ergetic eff ect of the drink that he tried to reproduce it at home.

After years of trying all kinds of ingredients and combinations, he unveiled a patented formula in 2009 through his blog and on social media, claiming the coff ee and an associated health regimen helped him attain a “bodybuilder” physique.

Asprey’s diet is now one of the most popular in the US, where a third of the population of some 320mn is obese.

And his modifi ed coff ee has become the fi rst link in an empire that includes the New York Times bestselling book The Bulletproof Diet.

In addition to people looking to lose weight, it attracts athletes and supporters of “biohacking”, a move-ment that combines biology and food technology to improve physical and mental capacity.

“Me and my wife are in the fi tness industry, so we are trying to do things that better our body,” said Justin Lo-vato, a burly personal trainer.

Past the hit of morning coff ee, the method advocates a diet free of gluten and sugar that draws around half of its calories from “healthy fats” such as MCT oil, 20% from protein - prefer-ably grass-fed meat and dairy or wild caught seafood - and the rest from organic fruit and vegetables.

Other foods are classifi ed as “bul-letproof”, “suspect” or “kryptonite” according to how they fi t into the diet’s categories and meals are taken on a set schedule.

A young athlete who gave his name as Ray said drinking the coff ee every morning “increases your energy levels for sure”.

“You don’t feel sleepy anymore, you don’t have the crash I would say after 20 minutes. Its eff ects are longer” than any of the products he has tested before, Ray added.

Asprey also advocates brief bursts of high-intensity exercise, with a focus on allowing the body to recuperate with food and sleep.

Several celebrities have publicly lauded the benefi ts of the “miracle drink”, like actress Shailene Woodley - protagonist of The Divergent Series saga - and comedian Jimmy Fallon.

But experts have raised the alarm over the diet’s nutritional value.

The British Dietetic Association listed the “Bulletproof” method

among its top 10 celebrity diets to avoid for 2016 - along with such questionable fads as the “all kale and chewing gum diet”.

“Un-bull-ieveable!” was its verdict. “Whilst the idea of minimising alcohol and processed food is positive, the clas-sifi cation of foods is at odds with health recommendations and lacks evidence.”

UCLA Medical Centre nutritionist Amy Schnabel told AFP the diet could work short term.

“Initially, any diet that has you restrict large food groups does result in some weight loss,” she said.

She also said the diet’s popularity was understandable - whether or not it is rooted in actual health benefi ts.

“Coff ee is a good source of antioxi-dants and it has caff eine. That would make any of us feel good,” said Schna-bel, “whether it is black or loaded with cream.”

“If you expect to drink one cup of this and feel good, and have mental clarity, you probably will - just be-cause of the placebo eff ect.”

But Schnabel also warned “the dangers of following this diet long term are possible nutrient defi-ciency”.

Doctors widely caution that the fi rst meal of the day is the most impor-tant one and should contain cereal or bread (carbohydrates), eggs or yogurt (protein), fruit (fi bre) and coff ee or tea (stimulant).

Asprey’s emphasis on the removal of mycotoxins is also potentially mis-leading, since coff ee producers now regularly use wet-processing, during which the beans are washed and the toxins eliminated.

He insists the benefi ts of his for-mula are proven.

And beyond the science, the com-mercial success of Bulletproof Coff ee is undeniable.

The “Bulletproof” website does a brisk business in coff ee and related health products - from engineered “healthy fats” to coff ee “perform-ance kits”, sleep-inducing mattresses, nightlights and “Zen” iPhone protec-tors that fi lter out blue light.

The future looks bright, too, after Asprey’s company received an injec-tion of $9mn from investors to expand its network of stores, the fi rst of which opened in affl uent Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, last year.

Coff ee diet becomes a huge hit in the US

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By Marie G McIntyreTribune News Service

QUESTION: The phones in this offi ce are driving me crazy. Whenever my co-workers are away from

their desks or on another line, I always answer their calls. Since they seem to be unavailable most of the time, I am constantly being interrupted while trying to get my own job done. How can I tell these people that I don’t have time to do their work for them?

ANSWER: First, we need to establish whether covering phones is actually your responsibility. Unless your manager has specifi cally told you to answer all these lines, you should let them go to voicemail. Problem solved.

But if phone backup is indeed an official duty, then your irritation with your colleagues is misplaced. In that case, you are not “doing their work for them”. You are simply doing

a rather annoying part of your own job.

That said, however, I certainly understand that constantly shifting attention from projects to phone calls can be both distracting and frustrating. So instead of scolding your busy co-workers, consider initiating a businesslike discussion with your boss about how this problem might be solved.

For example; “I have an idea for managing the phones that I hope you will consider. Although I don’t mind covering for my co-workers, frequent phone interruptions make it hard to concentrate on my own projects. If possible, I would like to continue taking calls when people are away or in meetings, but let their lines go to voicemail if they are in the offi ce. Would that be OK with you?”

Even if your boss has other ideas, you will have managed to raise the issue without sounding like a whiner. When bringing problems to

management, wise employees always include a possible solution.

Q: I recently interviewed an outstanding applicant with terrifi c qualifi cations, but now I’m not sure if I should hire him. Because “Jack” worked in this organisation 10 years ago, I automatically checked his employment history in our centralised personnel system. Unfortunately, a red fl ag popped up, indicating that he had been fi red.

Apparently, Jack and another employee were let go after they got into a physical fi ght at work. Now I can’t decide whether to take a chance on Jack or just look for someone else. What do you think?

A: Rehiring someone who was terminated for cause is certainly a risk. But on the other hand, 10 years is a long time, and people do change. So I can see why you’re wrestling with this decision.

Before making up your mind, try to

gather more data. Start by seeing if anyone in management can provide details of the previous incident. Carefully review Jack’s resume and talk with former employers. If possible, ask your human resources manager to obtain a complete background check.

Once you know what Jack has been doing for the past decade, you can better predict the kind of employee he might be now. Employment gaps, short-term jobs, lukewarm recommendations and any mention of performance problems could all be warning signs. But if Jack appears to have become a calm, stable, productive person, then he might be an excellent choice.

Marie G McIntyre is a workplace coach and the author of Secrets to Winning at Offi ce Politics. Send in questions and get free coaching tips at http://www.youroffi cecoach.com, or follow her on Twitter @offi cecoach.

Debate is an eye-opener Dear Sir,

The ongoing discussion in the letters-to-the editor column on salaries and benefi ts of teachers in Indian schools is an eye-opener to all parties concerned. I completely agree with the fact that Indian school teachers are paid a low salary compared to their peers in similar community educational institutions. I also agree with the fact that the Indian teachers’ role is not just confi ned to the class room; it covers many other areas of running the school. Our teachers defi nitely deserve to be paid and treated well.

However, I don’t agree that they are in any way lower in grade in terms of qualifi cations, experience and dedication compared to teachers of any other educational institutions in Qatar or elsewhere. As a parent, I am of the opinion that the standard of education provided to my children in Indian schools is adequate and defi nitely comparable to any other international schools.

I don’t believe that the school managements are responsible for such low salaries to the teachers and I also don’t believe that they are making huge profi ts by running the institutions. Education is a service to society and most managements

operate schools with passion and commitment.

Based on my limited knowledge and having lived in this country for more than 10 years, I estimate the cost of running a school the following way:

Assuming a classroom of 30 students, an average Indian school is expected to spend a minimum of QR330,000 per year for each class ie QR11,000 per student. This is made up as follows (1) Teachers’ salary QR60,000 which comes to QR3,500 monthly and another QR1,500 a month for accommodation and other benefi ts; (2) QR18,000 for administrative support, which is 30% of academic staff ; (3) QR108,000 for rent, which is QR100 per square metre with a minimum of three square metres for each student, though requirements are more than that; and (4) QR44,000 for school transport, which is at a monthly cost of QR10,000 for operating a mini bus with a capacity of 25 students.

On the other hand, the average fees of Indian schools are around QR9,000 or less, comprising tuition and transport fees (fee details of most schools are available on their respective websites). Apart from the above, there are many other hidden costs.

When we discuss fees in Indian schools, we should compare them with those charged by other international schools, which are often three to ten times higher than the former’s. But

I am sure that the teachers’ pay and quality of education there are not three to 10 times better than what the Indian schools provide.

BJ(Full name and e-mail address supplied)

Wrong picture

Dear Sir,

The picture used along with the report, “Malayalam actor Pillai dies at 82” (Gulf Times, February 1), was the wrong person’s. Your photograph

shows G Keshava Pillai, also known as G K Pillai. The actor who died was Kollam G K Pillai (G Krishna Pillai).

Avadhar Nathmittupalode@gmail.com

Please send us your letters

By e-mail editor@gulf-times.comFax 44350474Or Post Letters to the EditorGulf TimesP O Box 2888Doha, Qatar

All letters, which are subject to editing, should have the name of the writer, address and phone number. The writer’s name and address may be withheld by request.

Three-day forecast

TODAY

THURSDAY

High: 22 C

Low : 13 C

High: 22 C

Low : 15 C

Weather report

Around the region

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Weather todayP CloudyP CloudyP CloudyM SunnySunnySunnySunnyM Sunny

Around the world

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Fishermen’s forecast

OFFSHORE DOHAWind: NW 10-18/20 KTWaves: 3-5/6 Feet

INSHORE DOHAWind: NW-NE 05-15 KTWaves: 1-3 Feet

High: 23 C

Low : 15 C

WEDNESDAY

Moderate temperature day time with some clouds and cold by night.

P Cloudy

Cloudy

Max/min23/1319/0622/1618/1119/1326/1722/1122/11

Weather tomorrowP CloudySunnyP CloudyP CloudyP CloudySunnyM SunnyP Cloudy

Max/min23/1619/0723/1819/1119/1526/1822/09

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22/07

Kollam G K Pillai

HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, the sponsor of the seventh Qatar International Falcon and Hunting Festival, has handed trophies to the winners in various categories of competitions held as part of the festival at a ceremony held recently at the Cultural Village Foundation Katara. The concluding ceremony was attended by HH Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Personal Representative of HH the Emir; Prince Bandar bin Saud bin Mohamed al-Saud, president of the Saudi Wildlife Authority; Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, general manager of Katara and HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, in addition to a number of ministers, diplomats and VIP guests.

Sheikh Joaan presents awards to winners in falcon and hunting festival

Westin Doha Hotel & Spa opensStarwood Hotels & Resorts

has announced the open-ing of The Westin Doha

Hotel & Spa, Doha’s new serene downtown sanctuary.

Located in the heart of the capital, the hotel marks Westin’s debut in Qatar and further ex-pands the brand’s portfolio to four properties across the Mid-dle East.

“We are delighted to introduce our Westin brand to Qatar, which remains a key growth market for us in the Middle East,” said Gui-do de Wilde, senior vice presi-dent, Regional Director, Star-wood Hotels & Resorts Middle East.

He added: “In line with the brand’s commitment to well-ness, The Westin Doha will offer travellers and local resi-dents a revitalising experience, an escape from the hustle and bustle in the heart of down-town Doha.”

Starwood opens the hotel with Ghanem Al Thani Holdings, headed by Sheikh Ghanem bin Ali al-Thani, who have been pio-neers in Doha and opened their fi rst hotel in the Bin Mahmoud neighbourhood in 1979.

The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa is at the forefront of the revitali-sation of downtown Doha.

The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa boasts 365 contemporary spa-cious rooms, suites and villas,

including a 347sqm presidential suite, all off ering views of Doha City or the hotel’s serene oasis garden and pool area.

The room’s modern furnish-ings, warm colour schemes and understated decorative accents help soothe the mind, body and soul. All rooms feature the world-renowned Westin Heav-

enly bed, invigorating rainforest shower and separate bathtub – all reinforcing the concept of re-juvenation, along with Westin’s signature bath amenities.

The hotel features the Heav-enly Spa, off ering the perfect escape from the arduous city life with nine elegant treatment rooms, including designated

male and female wings, com-plete with relaxation lounge.

The wet spa areas with saunas, steam rooms and hydrotherapy pool facilities will open in spring 2016. Guests looking for a revi-talising, yet energised stay can power up in the WestinWorkout Fitness Studio, a spacious state-of-the-art gym or take advan-

tage of Doha’s fi rst man-made wave pool. The hotel also off ers Westin’s signature Gear Lend-ing programme, providing New Balance shoes and athletic wear for guests looking to stay active while on the road.

Local residents and guests will also enjoy Doha’s fi nest culinary delights across the hotel’s six

restaurants and bars. The hotel opens with Luxe Lounge, a cof-fee lounge with outdoor garden terrace, Seasonal Tastes – global cuisine restaurant, Waves Pool Cafe and MIX Bar, Lounge & Terrace.

In March, the hotel will intro-duce new concepts in Doha such as Royal Thai-themed Sabai Thai and contemporary grill res-taurant Hunters Room & Grill, which boasts a stunning, indoor green winter garden setting with natural daylight in the hotel’s atrium, perfect for year round al-fresco dining experience es-pecially during the hot summer months.

The hotel will also introduce the popular “Bubbalicious” brunch to Doha for the fi rst time, an entertaining, interactive ex-perience that provides the op-portunity for friends and family to spend quality time together.

The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa is home to the largest pillar-less ballroom in Doha, featuring over 6,000sqm of function space, combined with Westin’s trade-mark, clutter-free instinctive service and attention to detail.

For an unforgettable wed-ding experience, The Westin off ers a beautiful contemporary designed venue, with a breath-taking pre-function foyer with Bohemian Crystal droplet chan-delier, as well as separate dedi-

cated bride and groom dressing rooms in addition to the hotel’s bridal suite above the function space.

Delicious cuisine and sublime attention to detail that create a memorable wedding experience are tailored to each guest’s per-sonal style.

The hotel is located right in the heart of Salwa Road, min-utes away from Doha’s central business district, museums and unique cultural venues as well as Hamad International Airport, which is a mere 20-minute drive from the property.

The opening of The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa marks Star-wood’s fourth hotel in Qatar. In the Middle East, Starwood cur-rently operates 53 properties with a pipeline of more than 40 hotels to open in the next fi ve years.

Guests wanting to be the fi rst to discover Doha’s downtown sanctuary can take advantage of the hotel’s opening off er, which includes QR365 daily credit to spend on restaurants and bars or Heavenly Spa.

For more information, visit westindoha.com, e-mail: res-ervations.doha@westin.com, or call 44921600 to make a res-ervation. Stay connected to The Westin Doha: @westindoha on Twitter and Instagram and face-book.com/Westindoha

The staff pose for a group picture.

The Westin Doha ballroom foyer downstairs. The Westin Doha executive guest room.

QATAR

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 2, 201624